Love is a battle, love is a war, love is a growing up
by Emily Byrd Starr
Summary: Darcy and Loki work for both the Avengers and Odin as inter-realm ambassadors/spies, since Thanos has decided to declare war on the Universe. Tasertricks! Re-posted because the first time was a mess.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters here used. I wish I did, but they all belong to Marvel and its great All-Father: Stan Lee.**

 **Also, my Beta is amazing and I owe her a lot :) This exists because of her.**

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 _"_ _Look deeper through the telescope_

 _and do not be afraid when the stars_

 _collide towards the darkness,_

 _because sometimes the most beautiful_

 _things begin in chaos."_

 _―_ _ **Robert M. Drake**_

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Darcy had never, ever thought she would live something like that. She really wasn't a very ambitious girl. So yea, she wanted her degree, her apartment, job, parties, a house, travelling the world… but those were common ambitions. Everybody wanted to do at least one of those things.

Anyways, she really should have known that an internship with a crazy astrophysicist was not going to help her achieve that. But hey, Dr. Foster's investigation sounded like something coming out of a science fiction movie and really, no one was going to apply. So, out of compassion, she did.

Of course none of that mattered now. The past was in the past. What they were facing now was so much worse than just some internship and life goals.

Somehow, discovering interdimensional travelling attracted lots of supervillain aliens through the years. It put Earth out there to all kinds of crazy. First, Thor, then the Destroyer, then New York, then the Dark Elves. Now, apparently, a purple monster who called himself Thanos. Bit dramatic for Darcy's tastes, but hey, she was no one to judge. So right after the Dark Elves incident, she started training. Very rigorously. And she got her degree, which allowed her to stop that crazy internship, though she had developed a friendship with Jane.

Did that mean she was finally going to get away from weird stuff? SHIELD didn't think so. Supposedly SHIELD was gone, but barely a year after she stopped working for Jane, she received a call. Apparently back in Asgard the emo brother of Thor, Loki, responsible for the Battle of New York and saviour of Jane back in the day, stoler of the throne of Asgard for a short while after the Dark Elves, had confessed something really disturbing.

This Thanos guy, the one all of them knew by now, was preparing an army. And the Chitoori, cheetari, whatever, were like a first taste of what was going to come. Earth needed an ambassador to other planets and she had her degree. And also she knew how to fight and she just knew too damn much to be left alone and to allow her to, I don't know, travel around Europe in peace. Also, Loki confessed he had been tortured and almost driven crazy - almost? Darcy scoffed- by the Purple Monster, and his father, Odin, had decided to make him work as whatever he needed Loki to be: from a spy to an official ambassador as well. Odin had also thought that Earth could use his abilities, so SHIELD was now using Loki too as whatever they needed him to be.

Finally, Thor had the worse idea of all his life and dropped the word to Coulson (the Avengers were still happy that Coulson wasn't dead) about her and her degree and her skills -she had asked him for some lessons in fighting after all, and he was a surprisingly good teacher.-

She received the call, she assessed her situation an entire night and she accepted. Mostly because she couldn't say no and Jane was already living with Thor and she told her everything and fuck who else had enough time to do anything ? Plus, she needed the money. Student loans were an invention of Satan himself.

She had six months of intensive training with none other than the Black Widow, she went with her to three particular missions and she was finally accepted.

Okay, maybe she didn't have her life goals that much firm yet. And maybe she had been a little excited about being able to do something besides sitting in the last place and watching the action without joinin in.

So, that was her current situation. She was going to be introduced to Loki, the god of Mischief and Lies, as a partner in her missions. But first, Loki was going to teach her everything about the other worlds, the beings in them, the traditions, and secret passages "between the branches of Yggdrasil", as Thor had said.

Darcy was standing besides Thor and facing a big black dude with a golden armour and a gigantic GOLDEN SWORD, and GOLDEN EYES oh my god the entire place was frikin' golden!

"Good morning, Lady Darcy Lewis." Said the giant with a nod of his...golden head.

Darcy smiled and nodded too.

"Darcy, this is Heimdall, protector and all-seeing of the Nine Realms." Thor introduced the guy with pride.

"Good morning, Heimdall. Nice to meet you. Jane talked a lot about you." Darcy smiled warmly and Heimdall seemed happy with her answer.

"We will meet Loki in the throne room, Darcy. There's a boat waiting for us already that will take us to the other side of the Bifrost."

Darcy was fascinated with the place and didn't pay much attention, so she just followed Thor.

The boat, of course, was not normal. It was a floating boat. Seriously. Jesus Christ! She climbed in it and grabbed the sides until her knuckles turned white. She had hoped Thor wouldn't notice, but his little compassive simper showed the contrary.

"Don't worry, Darcy. I learned to sail through the realm when I was barely an infant."

"Yes? Well, guess who didn't! What happens if I fall here?"

Too late, she realized she shouldn't have said anything.

"We don't know that much. What we do know is that you might not be the same when you come back, if you ever come back."

"Sorry, dude. I know Loki fell."

Thor nodded but stayed silent the rest of the trip.

The Asgard she could see outside was beautiful. It reminded her a little to Elrond's place in Lord of the Rings. There were hills everywhere, little houses between the trees and beautiful waterfalls. She could see other realms in the sky.

When they made it to the other side, Darcy was at both relieved and disappointed. The trip had been short but the sight was amazing. She needed to see everything again.

Thor walked by her side the entire way. Fortunately, the palace wasn't too far and few Asgardians were there to stare at her.

She kept a neutral expression until they entered the throne room, where she lost it again. The place was enormous. The floor had an intricate design all over, that reminded her of Celtic knots, and the high ceiling was opened, showing the sky outside.

Odin was sitting on the throne, his old and tired composure inspired compassion in Darcy. She remembered that the guy had lost his wife and nearly his entire family. He only had Thor left.

"Greetings, Lady Darcy Lewis of Midgard."

"I hope you are doing well, King Odin, Allfather." Darcy curtsied cordially.

"I am, thank you. In the circumstances that surround the universe, I am as good as I can be. I don't want to have you standing there for hours and the situation is rather complicated right now for long ceremonies." She understood. Odin gestured to the guards near a...guess what, _golden_ door. A bunch of heavily armed guards entered the throne room. In the middle of them, a tall guy dressed with a green, gold and black armour. Loki. The group approached her and the guards positioned themselves all around her and Loki, taking off the handcuffs and the gag so he could talk to her.

He was tall. Really, intimidatingly tall. His black raven hair was perfectly combed backwards and he had bright, green eyes. He gave her a toothy, insane smile and Darcy wondered if the guy had ever gone to therapy in his long life. Because she was sure as hell he needed some meds. Lots of meds. Maybe even all the available meds on Earth. And a good psychiatrist.

"You're the mortal they expect me to work with?" He stated, looking up and down to her, his smile turning into a sneer.

"Great deduction there, Sherlock." Darcy knew he wasn't familiar with the character, but she also knew Thor was. He had watched the show with her at least three times. When Thor snickered, Loki shifted his glare at him and narrowed his eyes.

"Behave, Loki, or you'll go back to your prison." Odin intervened without even looking at them.

Darcy wasn't exactly happy with her situation. But for once in her life, she decided to put aside her pride and be the mature one. So, she gestured dismissively towards Odin, staring at Loki and making very clear that she wasn't going to take his shit just like that.

"It's nothing, really. We'll be a great team."

At that moment, neither of them knew how much truth her words held.

Make your thought known, please? :D


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters here used. I wish I did, but they all belong to Marvel and its great All-Father: Stan Lee.**

 **My Beta is still too amazing to be real. :)**

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" _I get up and pace the room, as if I can leave my guilt behind me. But it tracks me as I walk, an ugly shadow made by myself."_

― _**Rosamund Lupton**_ _,_ _ **Sister**_

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 _*one year after prologue*_

"Miss Darcy, the ceremony is about to start!" Her chambermaid (every time she visited Asgard, Odin assigned her the same chambermaid and she had to suck it up because protocole), Túrid, urged her.

"I know, I know! If you had practical clothes up here I would be ready in no time!"

Darcy was currently struggling with the many laces of the back of her light blue dress.

The dress was beautiful and it moved around her with the grace of clear water. It covered her enough to be appropriate for the occasion, and it was also comfortable, but complicated af to put on.

Túrid, who was waiting at the door, sighed in exasperation and walked to her with scolding written all over her pretty Asgardian face. She adjusted the laces a bit too tightly and Darcy huffed, knowing that this was Túrid's revenge for her words about Asgardian clothing. Then she took a black, thick velvet cloak and put it around her shoulders. Dacy tied it up with a silver brooch and smoothed it while Túrid prodded her towards the door. As soon as she was out, Darcy started running through the hallway.

"At the end of the corridor, turn right!" She heard Túrid's yell behind her. " And then, remember, THIRD DOOR WITH A GOLDEN WOOD FIRE CARVED IN IT!"

" _Everything's golden, you twit!_ " Replied Darcy, but raised her thumb.

The freaking dress was threatening to make her trip all over the floor, so she grabbed fistfuls of it, pulled it up and raced through the endless hallway. She had to make it. She wasn't going to be late. Just in time. As usual. This was important. The place resounded with her footsteps, and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest.

The hallway finally ended, Darcy turned right and entered the throne room. She stopped in her tracks - almost tripping, what the hell with Asgardian floors?- located the famous third door and then sprinted towards it. Yep, that one had the fire carved in it, and it was slightly opened. She thought she heard a few guards snickering at her, and she knew why: not every day you got to see a clearly not Asgardian girl running like crazy.

When she was about two meters to crash against the door, she stopped, smoothed her clothes again, wiped the sweat from her forehead and entered the place, breathing deeply through her nose to steady her heartbeat.

It was an ample room, with a high ceiling. Everything was enveloped in shadows, with the exception of a warm, orange lamp at the other side of the place. There, a group of people were standing in silence. Darcy stepped quietly towards them, and joined. The ceremony was about to start.

A young girl, (she looked around fifteen, but Darcy knew better than to judge by looks when she was among Asgardians) with a black gown and barefoot, walked to the dimming lamp, carrying a bottle with oil. She poured the oil around the only flame left, and suddenly the flame expanded to the entire surface previously occupied by the oil. It was a perfume burner, very similar to the Olympic Torch. Darcy could see the entire room then: everything, from floor to ceiling, had runes carved in it. There was no grave, and Darcy knew from Jane that Frigga had been given an Asgardian funeral, very similar to a Viking's funeral in many ways. She had been incinerated in a boat and the boat had been sent to Valhalla...quite literally.

A strong flowery scent filled the air, and for the first time, Darcy noted the people who had gathered to honour Frigga's death anniversary.

Odin was the closest to the torch, his head low and wearing a black fur cape instead of the usual red. Thor was next to it, and he had his armour on, only without the cape. Jane was at his side, and she had a grey gown and not a single piece of jewellry. Their two children, Thyra and Haldor, were silently watching the ritual, grabbing her mother's hands. Sif and the Warrior's Three were next, then, some members of the court she knew the names of: Bjarke, Aslaug, Kustaa, Hertha...

Lastly, in the farthest corner and with the hood of his black cloak up, covering his face, Loki. He wasn't moving, or doing anything. He was just standing there, still like a statue.

No one was looking at her and she didn't want to draw any attention, so she stayed where she was.

A woman with a soft voice was singing about death, loss and consolation, and her song draw tears to everyone's faces. The light was warm, and her flickering shine moved the people's shadows across the walls. Darcy, a stranger in that place, lowered her head.

When the song finished, everyone was given a glass cup and a servant poured amber mead in them. Odin was the first: he finished drinking his cup with a long sip and smashed it on the floor.

"Another!" He screamed, making Darcy jump.

Okay. That was weird. Thor used to smash mugs when he was on Earth for the first time, what it was nothing compared to what Odin had just done.

Everyone else raised their cups, drank its contents in one gulp and smashed the glass at the screams for another glass. Darcy could hear thunder crackling outside, and knew Thor was experimenting a lot more than he was showing with his face. Jane was openly crying and her children stared at her, unable to do anything.

After everything quieted down, Odin spoke.

"Thank you for being here today. I now initiate the feast. It will last three days and three nights. At the end of the third night, we will come back here and re ignite the Flame of Eternity with the magical oil that will last another year."

The people started talking and Darcy approached Jane first. Her former boss was still weeping softly, and she put a hand on her shoulder.

"There, there, princess." Darcy whispered, and Jane jumped at the sound.

"Oh my goodness! Darce!" Jane smiled openly through the tears. "Why didn't I know you were coming?"

Darcy took a while to reply, because as soon as Thyra and Haldor saw her, they ran to her giggling and hugged her waist tightly.

"Hmpf! How are you, tiny nerd Thors?" Darcy ruffled the blond hair of the twins and they yelled and laughed. Darcy embraced them both and filled their cheeks with tiny kisses. Then she looked at Jane and beamed. "You didn't know because I wanted it to be a surprise! I didn't want to miss this ritual."

Jane's face fell.

"It is a very important day here. And now you have to attend the feast."

The people started walking towards the door and the two women stayed back purposefully. Thor, sensing that they needed some privacy, nodded at Darcy and took his children with him. Loki was already gone, without acknowledging her presence. Darcy and Loki barely spoke at each other in public. Few and very select people knew about their alliance, and they wanted to keep it that way. The rest of Asgard knew her as the friend of the Princess.

"I will not be here three days. I have information for him, and then I'll wait on Earth until he is able to come. I have some stuff to do while waiting anyways. So, what were your thoughts about this kind of...um...thing?"

"You know Frigga saved my life from the Kursed. Without her, I wouldn't be here today, and my children would not exist. I owe her...everything I have." The honeyed eyes of Jane were bright with tears. Darcy threw her arm around Jane's shoulders."Anyways, I thought it would be different. More...Frigga-like. Thor told me she was sweet, comprehensive and compassionate. She liked her garden, her flowers, her music...she wasn't a warrior unless she had no other choice. This ceremony was a bit too Odin-like. But I guess she would have liked it that way."

They had reached the door, and when Darcy saw the throne room, her mouth fell open.

A large wooden table occupied most of it, and they had lowered the lights to make everything a little more welcoming to the eye: candle-lit rooms made people look younger and healthier. Also, the dark corners were the perfect place to naughty couples.

Everyone was already sitting, and Darcy noticed that there were more people: probably the entire court, their families and children, and some ambassadors from other realms: a man from Vanaheim, Fikri, whom she knew personally. He was a very nice light elf and Darcy was fascinated about his similarities with the elves from Lord of the Rings. There was also a dwarf from Nidavellir. She had seen him before, but she hadn't been officially introduced to him...so she secretly called him Gimli. The dwarf nodded in her direction once, but he didn't try to talk to her. Across the Nine Realms it was very impolite to just go talk to someone you had seen a couple times. You had to be introduced to that person. That was one of the first things Loki had taught her.

Thor was already sitting besides Odin. The Allfather had his two grandchildren on his lap, and for a brief second she found him similar to Santa Claus. Shaking the thought out of her head, she smiled at him respectfully and took her seat between Jane and Sif.

Everything started really...normal. Food, mead, wine, some soft - kinda celtic music in the background, laughter and conversation.

At midnight, Darcy was ready to go to bed. Sif didn't trust her (she didn't trust anyone who had anything to do with Loki and Sif knew about the alliance), so the woman kept surreptitiously glaring at her. As if Darcy couldn't tell what she was doing. Good-old Jane hadn't noticed, and she tried to bring up topics of conversation with both Darcy and Sif. Neither of them did anything to help Jane. Also, she had caught the attention of Fandral already. He couldn't manage his own libido and anytime he saw her around Asgard, he flirted with her. The guy was persistent at his best, and annoying at his worse. The children had all gone with their nurses to sleep, so Darcy couldn't go play with them to have a proper excuse to not talk to Sif or avoid Fandral.

Some time later, things were going downhill for Darcy. The air was heavy with the smell of food, people and the heat of the innumerable candles.

Thor was making out with Jane in one of the dark corners, a drunk Sif had gone to fight with Hogun on the training fields and a bunch of warriors who were making bets on which one of them would win, Fandral had two asgardian women on his lap, the ambassadors were gone to their realms, Volstagg was _still eating and not talking,_ and Odin was locked up in Frigga's mausoleum.

The rest of the people? Some were having a competition on who could drink more mead without passing out from the intoxication.

But a lot of them were dancing. Provocatively, tightly dancing to the loud music. Some exotic - because she had no other word to describe them- dancers were sensually moving their hips, letting the men graze suggestively their flawless skin.

Darcy had never been in an orgy, but she bet that's how those started. More and more couples were smooching by the minute, and she was really uncomfortable. She could feel the energy of the room heating up. She had also drank a considerable amount of mead, but her state was far better than most of the presents.

Suddenly, she remembered. She was there for a reason. She had information to tell Loki.

Even in the warm and pleasant haze of the alcohol running through her veins, Darcy knew Loki was not going to be easy to find. He never was.

But that night, luck was on her side.

Her wandering eyes stopped at one of the doors. One she had never crossed. He was there, standing against the wall, the hood of his black cloak hiding most of his face. He also had a glass of mead and his long, pale fingers held it firmly by the base. He was tall and dark, an ignominious stain among the loud, golden and bright crowd of Asgardians, with their blond hair, their sunlight-kissed skins and their colourful gardens. Loki was a ghost. A traitor. An unwanted surprise. An unexpected consequence. An outcast. His own darkness made him stand out between the crowds, almost as if he could swallow the light around him.

Darcy sighed and raised from her comfortable chair. The world spinned in her field of vision, swirling around her in a confusing mix of color and music and smell and the coldness of her drink in her hand. However, she kept her composure and walked to him, feigning a sobriety she didn't entirely felt.

"Hi, moody alien…"she waved happily.

Loki was uncomfortable with her informality at such public display. Glancing around quickly, he murmured only for her to hear:

"Not 'ere. Follow me."

As a general rule, Darcy would have made a witty remark about his intentions, but this time she was too surprised to say anything. Loki was drunk. He was drunk! Why else would he speak like that! His voice, though still low, was a little too raspy. His words were slightly slurred at the ends. She could have said it right there, but the information was her priority. It had to be done. It was not the best moment of all, but it was the only moment they had. Still, she hated being drunk herself. Why had she had that mead? It was Asgardian, it was strong AF!

Loki moved fast and with catlike movements that Darcy envied slightly. His cloak swayed around him gracefully, like feathery raven wings, and his footsteps were silent. Darcy could never be like that.

He took an unguarded and narrow hallway and turned right. A beautiful little arch was the private entrance for a peaceful garden. When Darcy saw it, the surprise filled her blushed cheeks.

Suddenly, the sounds of the party were no longer audible. The air blowed soft between the trees and flowers, fresh and pure, and the moonlight - Darcy knew that it was not technically a moon, but another realm...anyways it looked like the moon for her- bathed everything in a silvery, if not mysterious shadow. Millions of stars twinkled in the night sky, and for a second Darcy felt overwhelmed about the destiny of the Universe, should they fail in its protection.

"What is this place?" Whispered Darcy, absorbed in the contemplation of the surrounding landscape.

There was a moment of silence, and Loki cleared his throat.

"This is my m...Frigga's favorite garden. When she was...alive, she often came 'ere to read, to knit or just to think." His voice was neutral, his words carefully selected, even when he was not entirely sober. Darcy envied that as well. She closed her eyes for a minute.

"Why were you in the feast? I thought you hated Asgardian parties."

"'tis not a party, Miss Lewis. This is Mo...Frigga's death anniversary. I did it fa' her."

Loki started to walk and gestured Darcy to follow him. They stepped between a labyrinth of plants, and at the end of the way they found a little round table and two crescent-shaped seats, all of it made of white stone that reflected the light. Loki took a seat and Darcy sat down on the opposite side, the table between them.

"So, why hiding? You've never had a problem with being an annoying prick in front of other Asgardians."

Darcy wasn't really hoping he would answer, but maybe the mead he had drank had something to do with the way his voice sounded when he spoke.

"This was different. I was hoping somethin' different. That feast is not what she would've liked."

"Why?" He was actually answering the question! Maybe she was pushing her luck, but hey, she wasn't about stopping now.

"'Cuz she was **not** from Asgard. She was from Vanaheim. And there things are differen'. More delicate."

"How so?"

Loki finally put down the hood and revealed his face. His long, black hair was combed backwards, as usual, and his high cheekbones and pale skin were perfectly visible. He stared at her for a moment, thinking about his answer.

"In Vanaheim, they don't do...all this noise."

"It is a little too noisy, right? I thought they were going to start an orgy at some point."

Alright. She was actually making Loki talk. Miraculous Asgardian mead!

To her surprise, Loki chuckled.

"This is nothing. Asgard is known fo' its wild parties. Not orgies, anyways."

Darcy knew she had information to give...but the temptation was too strong.

"Um, so how's a celebration of this kind in Vanaheim?"

Loki let his gaze wander around the place. Everything was so peaceful...and it felt safe. Even when it was a lie and the information she had proved it, Darcy cherished that false sense of protection. She never had enough of it.

"They sing songs. Not all that yelling you heard about war, honor and Valhalla, but real, beautiful songs. Everythin' is don' outside the palace...they plant flowers all around the memorial...and when it's nearly evenin', they release _kuumailmapalloksi_ to the sky."

"Kuwhat?"

Loki sighed, a little exasperated with her ignorance of Vanaheim's dialect. She was supposed to know at least the basic words of each realm...good luck with that. Even English was complicated for her sometimes.

"Those balloons we saw in the last diplomacy mission…"

Darcy beamed, a little touched about the ceremony. It really was more delicate. And the balloons had been a beautiful surprise, though they weren't invited to the ritual.

"Why didn't they do something more...vanaheim-ish?"

She muttered the words for herself, but Loki heard her and answered anyways.

"Because my mother choose to abandon her native traditions in Odin's favour. A decision she tried to hold through the years, though fa...Odin knew she missed her home. I thought he would honour that decision by giving her something from her home, even after her death. But he didn't."

Darcy was not surprised by the resentment she heard in Loki's voice. His adoptive father -not that he would call him father at all- was a difficult man to have a conversation with, and his past actions regarding Loki were not precisely talking about an excellent fatherhood.

She had never knew Frigga. She hadn't even seen a picture or a portrait of the woman. But Frigga, a queen from another realm, wife of a stubborn old god, with two problematic children and a kingdom to take care of, had saved Jane. Frigga had saved her best friend, and because of her sacrifice Jane had lived enough to marry Thor and have two children with him. She had also saved the Universe from the Dark Elves.

Yes, the Universe was in danger again, and yes, Darcy hadn't forgot about her task, but...Frigga haven't been properly honoured. If Loki was telling the truth about Vanaheim, Odin hadn't even considered something similar to a Vanir funeral.

She had to do something.

"You know what, I'm done with the feast. I'm off to sleep. And you're drunk. Don't think I haven't noticed."

Darcy tended to do that when she felt a conversation was too deep. There were things she never discussed with Loki. Like his torture. Or the murdering of her parents. Or even his relationship with Thor. She knew Loki was doing some kind of "community service", and she knew he had confessed. She knew he was pretty much on the good side...though apparently Odin didn't trust his adopted son that much. He had, after all, given her a little device that could knock out Loki in case he tried to betray her. Asgardian weaponry.

"Very clever observation, Miss Lewis." Loki closed his eyes and tilted his head. " Good night."

"Night."

But when Darcy finally went to bed that night - realizing in the way of her dormitory that she had left her cloak in the throne room- she couldn't shake Frigga and her death away from her thoughts.

Things in Asgard were fairly pleasant. She woke up and the breakfast was already there, hot and waiting for her. Along with the tray, a little note in which she recognized the handwritting of Túrid.

"Hungover? Drink the brown cup. Then eat. I hope you had a great time last night! T."

"Come on! So they have crazy feasts and then they don't have to suffer hangovers?" Darcy complained.

However, it was actually great she had that beverage around, because her head felt heavy and her mouth was dry.

She had forbidden Túrid to enter her room in the mornings to help her dress - _I'm not five!-_ but that morning was a little hard for her to choose her clothing. It had to be neutral enough, and comfortable enough.

Darcy had been thinking a lot last night. About Frigga and her sacrifice. She wanted to honour her in a more proper way. And, not that she was going to tell anybody about it, the ritual Loki described was very close to what she wanted to do on Earth to honour her own parents.

Claudia and Thomas Lewis had been loving, patient and comprehensive humans. Their deaths had been unnecessary and painful, and there wasn't a day in which Darcy didn't think about why they were not with her anymore. The answer was simple: she had caught the wrong attention on her person, a year ago. Some evil dude had recognized her and he had escaped. Not even four hours later, her parent's house in New Jersey exploded. Police said it was a homemade bomb.

It had been a year ago. She was ready to honour them in the way she couldn't when they died. Nobody had told her until two days later, when there was nothing to be done. She never knew what happened to that guy she failed to keep her identity hidden. She was sent to spy, and she had failed. There were consequences.

Heimdall smiled faintly when he saw Darcy walking to his Observatory. She had refused to ride horses or climb on boats on her own, so she always walked when she wanted to talk to him alone. They were familiar with each other, and Heimdall was always nice, if not intimidating.

The girl was wearing black pants and a short white dress over it, black boots and the hair neatly pulled in a ponytail. She carried a leather bag and a bright smile.

Suspicious.

"Good morning, my favourite Asgardian dude! So, keeping an eye at the Galaxy?" Darcy waved a little too enthusiastically.

"Good morning, Lady Darcy. What brings you here in this fine morning?" Heimdall decided to play along.

"I only wanted to visit you!" Darcy acted all offended...but then her expression fell. "...and maybe ask you if you could let me go to Vanaheim for a short while. I kinda need to buy a few things but..ahem...I can't find them anywhere but Vanaheim."

"Miss Darcy, this is against all the rules." Heimdall was nice, but firm. "You can't travel through the Bifröst unless it is for a diplomatic mission and with company. You agreed on this matter a year ago."

"Yeah, you see… " Darcy scratched her head. "I'm on a mission...it's not diplomatic, but hey, my contract said "mission". Work with me here!"

"Clever word choice." Heimdall smiled sympathetically. "But it's still against the rules."

Darcy sighed unhappily.

"Dude. Come on. I need to go to Vanaheim...and Midgard after Vanaheim."

"What could possibly be so urgent if you're not on an official mission?"

"Well…you saw Frigga's commemoration last night...it was not really Vanir. Loki…" Heimdall went very serious and Darcy cringed, knowing mentioning Loki was never an advantage. "Loki told me she quit every tradition from her realm to be with Odin and help him. And last night was...so very Asgardian! I know" alright Loki had told her that too but she was so not going to mention him again. "how is the ritual for the deaths in Vanaheim and I want to honour her in the ways her own parents would have. And...I kinda want to put my parents into the equation as well. " Well, that was hard to mention so lightly, but she had to go on and persuade Heimdall. "That's why I need to go to Earth. And Vanaheim."

Heimdall stared at her with his golden eyes for so long Darcy was half expecting some kind of x-ray (superman style) coming out of his eyes to melt her on the ground.

"Very well. You have one hour to go to both places."

Darcy jumped and almost hugged him, but the armour was still too much for her to process.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou! You are the best, dude! I'll go to Vanaheim first!"

She walked quickly to the exit of the Bifröst and stood there, impatiently waiting. Heimdall smiled and climbed up his spot, where his gigantic sword was placed.

When he sank the sword, a question escaped through her lips.

"Why are you letting me do this so easily?"

She could see the faint half-grin he gave her, like knowing she was going to ask that.

"My father was from Vanaheim, and the Allmother was very well known to the other realms. Known, and loved."

And with that, he sank the sword and in a flash of light, Darcy was gone.

Vanaheim was a beautiful planet. Bigger than Asgard, and no so densely inhabited. The Vanir were very similar to Asgardians, with the exception that they were lso magic yielders, and the ones who had provided Asgardians with all their magical weapons. Over the years, Darcy had come to appreciate Vanir a lot more than she did Asgard in general. Vanir loved nature, and they didn't have one ruler but small communities, in some kind of tribal organization. They were guided by elders. Also, they were nice and welcomed everyone into their borders.

She landed in a forest clearing, inhaling deeply through her nostrils. Though she had grown accustomed to travel by Bifröst, it was still a little hard for her to not panic.

The air was chilly, but Darcy knew that the sunlight and the ten minutes walk till the nearest "Kuvila" was going to warm her up.

Kuvila was the name Vanir gave to their small communities. The one she was going to visit was called "Kaupunki linnut", or "city of birds".

Two guards stepped forward when she approached the town's entrance, and Darcy smiled to them.

"Good morning. I am Ambassador Darcy Lewis, of Midgard."

"What is your purpose for this visit?" Asked one of them sternly.

Okay, maybe during her first visits the people had been welcoming and warm...now it was not that great. War had made them cautious, at least this particular Kuvila.

"I'm here to buy some things at the market...not going to take long."

"Do you have some kind of identification with you?" the other said, a little nicer.

Darcy raised a hand gesturing them to wait and fished the ID SHIELD gave her out of her bag. She gave it to one of the guards and he examined it carefully.

"You may pass, ambassador."

"Thanks, have a good day."

The very first lesson she had learned while studying Political Science was how to be internationally nice. Presently, it would be how to be universally nice. Or, as Tony had put it once, "keep your friends rich and your enemies rich until finding out which is which."

She had to say, it worked amazingly well.

The little market in the city had everything she needed, and in barely half an hour she was back in Heimdall's Observatory. In Earth, things were even simpler and she was back in fifteen minutes.

"Jane...Jane. Jane! Wake the fuck up, woman!" Darcy half-whispered while shaking her friend's shoulder.

"Darcy have you ever heard about silence while one's sleeping, shit?" Jane grumbled groggily. She closed her eyes again, but Darcy was not easily deterred when she wanted something.

The room was dark, but Thor was not sleeping there. Darcy had came across him in the kitchens, and he was having a quite large breakfast with the Warriors Three. Hogun had a black eye that wasn't there the night before. Though she wasn't particularly close to Sif, she smirked on her way to Jane's room. Girl power!

"I need you to cover me up tonight at the feast. Make up some excuse...please."

At that, Jane opened her eyes just a bit.

"Are you going to be on a mission?" She asked, her voice raspy.

"Not exactly. It's too long to tell now. I need you to say something, like, I dunno, like I'm sick from last night and that I won't attend the feast."

"W...what? Why?" Jane woke up completely and stared at her.

"Because...like I already said, I can't quite tell you right now. Alright, damn it! I'll tell you. Have you ever been to Frigga's garden? It's actually close to the throne room."

"Yeah...Thor showed it to me a while ago. Nobody ever goes there. Odin certainly doesn't want people in that place."

"Well, Odin be damned. I'm doing something there tonight. I'll tell you when you have breakfast in your tummy, come on. You are invited to go if you want. Thyra and Haldor as well." Jane kept staring at her. "Alright, fuck, I'll be honouring both Frigga's sacrifice and the death of my parents tonight!"

Darcy was expecting Jane's good old scolding, but to her surprise, her friend smiled.

"It was about damn time! Thor's been ranting about it for days now!"

"Thor?" Darcy was confused.

"Yeah. He told me Frigga was not from Asgard but from Vanaheim. Odin was going to make only an Asgardian ceremony. He was rather furious."

"Okay. Well, he can also drop by, though I'm sure people will notice his absence. Um, and besides Loki is going to be there. I don't want them destroying Frigga's garden, or Asgard, because of their problems."

Jane gave her a knowing look. Thor and Loki couldn't be in the same room for fifteen minutes. Loki would say something offensive - on purpose, of course- Thor would answer and between seconds they would jump at each other's throats. Odin would yell, Jane and Darcy would roll their eyes and the guards would pull them apart...screaming and kicking like children.

"So…-Jane fidgeted with the sheets and looked away, feigning innocence. - Are you doing this for Loki?"

Darcy knew that the question was unavoidable. Though she had pretended not to see, everyone who knew something about their alliance speculated. Darcy couldn't blame them. With the Universe hanging on the balance, a war at their hands and literally lots of new dimensions...people tried to avoid the acknowledging they might die sooner than later. They held on whatever distraction they could find. Feasts, parties, movies, shopping...anything.

And, let's face it, she and Loki were a good distraction. A human girl working with the psychotic god? - nobody really knew he had been tortured, after all. - Anyways, even when only a few Asgardians and even fewer humans knew the nature of their relationship, whispers and gossip followed them wherever they went.

"I'm doing this for Frigga. For what she did before dying. For saving the universe...and for my parents. Loki is in this because he told me about the ritual…"

"Okay" Jane surrendered. "And he was not present when Frigga's funeral was made. He was in prison. The funeral itself was a mix of Asgard and Vanaheim."

"He deserved it."pointed out Darcy.

"….Yeah. I'll be there tonight. And Thor. Just...I'll get him to behave."

* * *

Night had fallen again over Asgard. And, after sleeping it off for almost the entire day, Asgardians had decided to get drunk and dance one more time. Darcy was excused from the feast by Jane, and no one suspected anything. Asgardian alcohol was not made for human complexions. So basically everyone assumed that Darcy's liver had just given up and tried to save itself by making her throw up her first meal.

Thank God it wasn't that.

Darcy was wearing a white dress, a little less comfortable than her usual clothing, but white was the color of the Vanir funeral. She was going to respect it. Grabbing her bag, she sneaked into Frigga's garden completely unseen.

Fortunately, she thought, there was no space in that garden to plant trees.

Darcy set herself to work and made sure none of the things she was going to use caused too much noise. Heimdall would protect the palace, the shield was already up, shimmering golden in the night and blocking some of the stars from view.

When everything was ready, Darcy went back inside just in time to see Loki getting out of his prison/room, surrounded by guards. Shit. That was unexpected...or not at all. She hid behind the corner to decide what to do, but then Thor appeared in her field of vision.

"I have to take Loki somewhere else. Please, continue with your following tasks for the night." The guards nodded respectfully and Thor commanded his brother." Follow me.

"Oh, please do not tell me you want to have a brotherly chat with me!" Loki laughed and Darcy ran silently back to the garden, rolling her eyes. "You know it won't work."

"This is not about you and me, brother. You'll see when we get there."

"Get where?" Asked Loki. "And I'm not your brother."

Thor muttered something, though he didn't punch his not-brother in the face. Of course, Loki liked to push the limits.

"Please do tell me this is your stupid attempt to "control yourself". I'm sure that mortal of yours told you to behave. What did she promise in exchange for this...quiet mood you're honouring the Universe with?"

"Shut up. And she's not mortal anymore."

Thor really, really wanted to punch his brother in the face. But they had arrived to Frigga's Garden, and Loki's face had gone from irritatingly teasing to downright murderous.

"This is _her_ place. You don't go in there." He hissed, thin lips retreating over the set of perfect teeth. But Thor did not fear.

"Tonight, I do. And you as well. I do not intend to talk to you now. Our relationship, bad as it can be, does not matter tonight."

"Or ever." Muttered Loki loud enough for Thor to hear him. And they crossed the archway.

At first sight, nothing had changed. The air still smelled like the flowers Frigga loved to plant. Everything was full of life and so peaceful that Thor cooled down his temper almost instantaneously. They walked around the place, both in silence, until they reached the center of the labyrinth. There was Darcy, sitting at the same white stone table. Thor and Loki recognized the attire immediately: it was the funeral garment women used in Vanaheim. Her hair was not her usual ponytail but two long braids, each on one side of her face.

Loki had already realized what it was. The _kuumailmapalloksi_ were on the table, ready to be lit up.

Miss Lewis was about to honour Frigga's death anniversary. And she had got Thor to help her.

When she cleared her throat, Loki snapped out of his thoughts.

"Um...Well, Loki, you've told me about how Odin's feast is not something traditional from Vanaheim, where Frigga was born. So, I wanted to honour the Allmother. And, as you may know by now, a year ago my parents were…they died. And that's why we are here tonight. I am honouring both Frigga and my parents, and you can honour Frigga in a more...proper way."

Jane suddenly appeared running through the garden and without a spare glance for the dumbstruck brothers, she hugged Darcy briefly.

"I could make it! Need help?" Jane offered.

"Actually, yes. I need you to light up the balloons…"she eyed Loki, who was about to say the correct Vanir word for them. "Kuumailmapalloski! Could you do that while I check everything else is ready?"

Darcy quickly walked outside the labyrinth. Jane lit up the balloons carefully and handed one to each brother.

"Do not let them go until Darcy is here." She instructed.

And for once, Loki was still too shocked by what was happening to actually answer.

Darcy finally came back and received her balloon. Her smile was sad.

"This is for you, Queen Frigga of Asgard, Princess of Vanaheim, Peace Maker and sweet Allmother. Thank you for the lives you saved and the lives you allowed to start by your sacrifice." Recited Jane with her eyes closed.

"And this is for you as well, Claudia and Thomas Lewis, because I could never honour your death properly." Darcy's voice trembled slightly, but she went on. "Don't go too far. We'll meet again."

At Jane's signal, the four of them released the silver balloons. Their eyes followed them in their slow but ascending path. Darcy took her I-Pod from the table and started a song. Loki was not familiar with it, but the other three were muttering the words along.

I saw the light fade from the sky

On the wind I heard a sigh

As the snowflakes cover

My fallen brothers

I will say this last goodbye

Night is now falling

So ends

this day

The road is now calling

And I must away

Over hill and under tree

Through lands where never light has shone

By silver streams that run down to the sea

Under cloud, beneath the stars

Over snow and winter's morn

I turn at last to paths that lead home

And though where the road then takes me,

I cannot tell

We came all this way

But now comes the day

To bid you farewell

Loki was staring at the sky, his green eyes reflecting the millions of stars above. If he had been a smart, innocent though prankish boy again, he would have thought the night sky only showed beautiful worlds, all of them familiar to him, or his family. Familiar of the glory of Asgard. Now, he knew better. He had found some secrets between the stars. And some dark, forgotten secrets had found him first.

He could not be certain about "meeting again" with Frigga. Not like Miss Lewis was about her own mother. His spirit was not a flame but merely a frozen shadow. He craved for Valhalla, but he was sure it doors would not open for him. Still, miss Lewis, a mortal, a tiny little mortal, who hadn't even met Frigga alive, was honouring her better than Odin himself.

The thoughts left his head when two silver lights exploded in the sky in red and blue sparkles, followed by more colours. When he looked down, he saw Thor and his mortal questioning miss Lewis silently. She shrugged, her teary eyes raising to watch the lights.

"My parents loved fireworks. I thought it would represent them well"

Jane threw her arm over Darcy's shoulders.

"It's a beautiful show, Darcy. Your parents would be proud of it."

The "fireworks" continued for up to ten minutes, almost soundless in the night. Darcy had made sure to buy the best ones. Within that time, Thor and Jane left. The chilly air made Darcy shiver slightly, and she turned around only to see Loki still mesmerized by the sky. When he heard the movement of her skirt over the grass, he looked at her.

To say that Loki was speechless was being too obvious. He was not only speechless. He couldn't even think coherently.

Miss Lewis had risked a lot by travelling through Bifröst. He had to admit, she was brave, bold and utterly surprising.

"So?" she asked, expectantly. "Did you like it?"

He blinked a few times, as if even that question was a lot to process.

Loki wanted to say many things. That he was surprised a mortal could pull off something like that without being caught, that he was sure his mo...Frigga would have loved the ritual, that the fireworks had been fascinating...But for the first time in his life - and he was going to make damn sure it was going to be the last- one stupid question left his mouth.

"How did you convinced Heimdall to let you travel?"

Darcy stared at him a second, her mouth slightly opened, as if she couldn't really believe he has said that. Then she laughed, her laughter loud, joyful and authentic, full lips spread as wide as they could over slightly crooked teeth. And her answer was even more unexpected:

"I used your method, dude! Tried to say the right words at the right moment...though I was sincere all the time. An improvement to your method, I would say." Before he could reply, she rubbed her hands over her shoulders. "I'm freezing here. I'd love to stay and count shooting stars, but I think I'll head to my room now."

"Where have you left your cloak?" He stupidly asked. Again.

"Actually, I think it's still in the throne room…" _Where possibly everybody is drunk or making out,_ she thought. "I'm not in the mood to go there right now. Have a good night!"

When she left, he raised his eyes again. He hadn't been thinking straight. He had been planning a future revenge against Odin, because he had been more focused on Odin's lack of thought. He hadn't even considered honouring his mo...Frigga on his own. Instead, the mortal had done it for him. Miss Lewis.

Loki wanted to forget. To be left alone. He didn't even care if he died or lived after the war. He had confessed in order to achieve that. People leaving him on his own. Silence.

But he realized in that moment that the hell he had lived in Thanos' hands would never, ever fade away. The demons in his head would never leave him. His own guilt would never disappear. The problem, he realized, was not Asgard or Thor, but his own mind. The way he had chosen to deal with everything. He couldn't escape his own mind without help.

He needed...help.

Darcy didn't realize she hadn't given him the intel until the next morning.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters here used. I wish I did, but they all belong to Marvel and its great All-Father: Stan Lee.**

* * *

 _See the dark shades of what I used to be_

 _see the purple of her eyes_

 _see the scarlet of my lies_

 _love rescue me_

U2, Love rescue me

* * *

"You're a surprisingly good dancer, you know?"

"So I've been told." Loki replied smugly.

"And also unbearably egocentric." Darcy rolled her eyes, but smiled.

"I've been told that as well."

The forest of Vanaheim was dense, its massive, centenary trees and tree tops shaping a black lace dome in the night, a lot of tiny little lamps recreating the stars hanging between the branches. It was kinda magical.

The sudden and deep change in the planet the past month was tragic: the communities were facing a civil war and so the allies, seeing that Thanos' minions were many and very dangerous, had hidden in the forest.

Still, there was one village whose Elders decided to remain neutral. Loki and Darcy were in that one, trying to make them understand that being neutral was not an option. They had been there many times now, having developed a friendship of sorts with one of the Elders, Kamilios.

" _We are not going to kill people we consider friends._ " He had declared, completely convinced of his idea. Next day, he and the other two Elders had organized a dance. Darcy and Loki had to accept. Maybe it was their last chance to convince them to fight against Thanos. Odin and The Avengers had given their thumbs up - Odin had nodded, Stark had literally raised his thumbs up- and they had arranged with Heimdall an hour and a safe place to come back.

Currently, Darcy was trying to follow the steps of the dance, half helped by Loki and half improvisation. Something had changed between them. Two months had passed since the ritual she had made for Frigga and her parents, and the change was barely visible, but it was there. Something a little more mischievous, a little less closed off...she couldn't put her finger on it, but everyone had noticed. Of course nobody told Loki anything.

Also, Loki had started seeing Eir, the best Asgardian therapist. On his own free will. Sure, Eir was bound by Loki's seidr to not tell anyone about the fact that he, of all people, had sought help. But Darcy knew, because she was seeing Eir too. She had seen -and done- some terrible things. Eir was great, and her service was for free. So, she recognized one of the breathing exercises to lower the heartbeat and stop panicking when Loki had started doing it, and she had asked him. And _that_ was another change in his behaviour: he had answered with the truth. He actually was able to answer personal questions without lashing out in anger. At least with her. Darcy guessed it had to do with the therapy, and she mentally thanked Eir for that.

She turned around, her arms raised and snapping her fingers to the rythm of the music.

The first arrow hit their friend, Kamilios, through his throat. He was sitting in front of everyone, and when the horrified silence filled the place, Kamilios opened his mouth and tried to breathe. A horrible, gurgling sound could be heard in the night, and the Elder fell to the ground shaking in agony. Then, as if someone had pressed a button, chaos unleashed. Fear and horror replaced music and dances. Arrows poured between the trees, children started screaming for their mothers and the Vanir used their magic to hide or disappear. Darcy, unable to do the same and having lost Loki in the chaos, crawled between dead bodies and broken cups to the nearest tree. She slid between its roots, trying not to think about the spiders and other insects that could have made that place their home. All at once, the screaming stopped and the lights went out.

The silence that followed was nothing like any other moment she had lived before. It wasn't horrified or shocked. It was the silence of the dead Vanir, the ones that couldn't hide fast enough. Darcy knew that the enemies could move in the forest like shadows, and that scared her the most. If they found her, she was dead. She had left her weaponry on the boat she and Loki had rented for the day. After all, it was a ball and not a diplomatic reunion with possible enemies. Carrying weapons with them would have been impolite. The lake they had to reach wasn't far away, but trying to reach it was suicidal. And she didn't know where Loki was. Maybe he had abandoned her. Maybe he had escaped. Maybe he was going to join Thanos. Darcy felt the panic tightening her throat. If Loki had betrayed her, she could not face him. She could not beat the god of Mischief. She could not defeat someone who could use magic.

Suddenly, two hands pulled her up. Darcy tried kick, but the man clamped his hand against her mouth.

"Silence, Lewis!" Loki hissed against her ear. "I'm hiding you now."

Darcy tried to bite his hand and he took it away, muttering something under his breath that was very similar to an insult and making her walk in an apparently senseless path.

"We have to get to the lake and go to the other side! It's near Heimdall's point and he will be able to open the Bifröst!" she whispered.

Loki wasn't paying any attention, so Darcy stabbed his hand with her nails as strongly as she could.

"What?" he snapped lowly.

"The lake, you stupid asshole! We've got all our stuff in there!"

"Can you wait a bloody second, Lewis?"

Suddenly, Loki pushed her against a tree. The back of her head hit the cortex of the tree and she groaned in pain.

"The hell?" She mumbled when his green cape covered them both. Of course, he had "magicked" his armour out of thin air. She heard a loud clang above her head. "Oh my god...did you put the helmet on?"

Loki huffed, exasperated.

"Well, yes! It's supposed to protect your head! Does everyone have a problem with my helmet?"

"I do! It's horned! It will tangle in everything, for god's sake this is a forest! Haven't you heard about the conceited deer?" She replied.

He put his hand over her mouth again, and she actually stayed quiet.

Something was coming. Darcy could sense it in the way the soft breeze stopped all at once and the sounds of the forest were suddenly silenced.

She felt Loki's chest vibrate in exasperation and she realized they were very close. His arms were both raised above her head, covering them with his cape. She guessed it was enchanted to hide them, though she didn't know for sure. They were hiding between the lower branches of some kind of pine tree, but all in all she doubted that the thing searching for them had eyes.

"We have to reach the lake." He murmured against her ear, his cold breath surprising her.

"No shit, Sherlock" She bit back, earning a snarl of frustration. He was familiar with the character now. "How do we do that without the thing searching for us...actually finding us?"

"No magic. We run."

Without another word Loki stood up, gripped her wrist and took off.

He was a powerful being. He had magic, obviously, but he also was stronger and faster than an average human. So when he started running, Darcy tried to keep up and failed.

"Dude! Slow the fuck down! You're gonna kill me!" she yelled while trying to dodge branches and plants from crashing into her face.

"We can't! The creature senses magic and it's trained to hunt. Jump on my back and brace yourself."

"Are you crazy?" She exclaimed after accidentally swallowing a leave, coughing to get off its bitter taste.

"I think we've already stated that I am! Now, jump on my back or I swear to the Norns that I will leave your body here for the Vanir to find!"

He lost his patience, stopped abruptly and Darcy crashed against his back. The freaking armour was hard and she clumsily wrapped her legs around his waist and grabbed his shoulders. She looked back and could she a flash of a bony, grey hand. It was the thing.

"Run, run!" she urged, clinging onto him like a baby koala. She couldn't fight magical beings! That... thing, whatever it was, had an aura all around it that made her think about the Nazgûls in Lord of The Rings. Not a very helping thought at the moment.

"What do you think I've been doing all this time?" He hissed.

They reached the lake, Loki run along the lakeshore and stopped for a millisecond to let Darcy jump on their boat. With a swift movement he jumped on it as well and cut the rope that kept the boat from going away.

The thing that followed them stayed within the limits of the forest.

"They can't stand moving water. It's against their nature." Said Loki with a smug smirk when she asked him with her eyes. He started rowing quickly.

Darcy flung a bag at Loki and set herself to prepare her stuff. Whenever they went on a mission they carried their own bags: Loki's was full of tricky stuff, made to distract, while Darcy's was full of...weapons. Her favourite was a Stark-modified taser, but this time she fished from her bag three grenades and an AK47, also Stark-modified. Her instinct told her they were not safe.

"You brought that terrible, noisy gun here?" Questioned Loki with disdain.

"It it not terrible, and her name is Dorothy." Darcy loaded the AK47, released the safety and held it firmly against her shoulder, sitting down.

A boat was not the best place to shoot, but it would have to do.

As soon as they were in deeper waters, Loki left the oars and hid several knives around the boat, using his seidr to keep the course in the right way.

"We should've stayed and helped. It was the right thing to do." Said Darcy. Loki sighed.

"Nobody was armed. Nobody was fighting. If we had stayed, we would be prisoners by now...and corpses by tomorrow."

"What do you think will be their side?" Darcy chose to ignore the corpses part, in favour of inspecting everything around them. The adrenaline pumping in her heart made her all too aware of the danger.

"I believe they will choose Odin's side...though I can't be society is not ruled by one King, and under Odin's protection they could organize themselves the way they wanted. Also, they loved Frigga. Her memory may be enough for them to choose a side. I guess they'll respect the truce and protection Asgard had kept with them all these centuries."

They were talking to prevent from panicking. They knew something was coming, it was just a matter of time until it found them.

"Heimdall?" Darcy tried, but nothing happened.

"He can't see us. I hid us from everyone's view."

"That is going to be a major problem! Why did you do that?"

"Because our enemies have a very similar way of seeing the things they are after as our mutual acquaintance, Heimdall."

Darcy remembered Heimdall's father was from Vanaheim.

Not a sound could be heard, except for the boat sliding across the lake, towards the land.

They were close to it, but suddenly a Vanir boat appeared out of nowhere.

"It's the Midgardian and the Silvertongue! Curse their souls! Kill them both!" Screamed someone, and they tossed something at them. It was rounded, it was strangely familiar...it was Kamilios' head. It fell heavily to the water and floated around them, making Darcy's stomach churn.

Then she started shooting like crazy. No bullet affected them, until Loki noticed and told her.

"They are protecting themselves with magic! Throw a grenade!"

"Help my aim!" She indicated, grabbed the grenade, pressed the lever, pulled the ring off and kept it in her hand for two seconds before throwing it with all her strength to the enemies.

There was no need for Loki's magic to help her. The grenade fell exactly in the middle of the boat before exploding. The blast made their boat shake and three more boats appeared around them.

"Aha! I knew they were hiding with magic" Loki smiled and Darcy furrowed her brow like she couldn't believe what he was saying.

"Silverpants, use your own freaking magic for something more than pushing this crap around!" Screamed Darcy when she saw the enemies approaching them with more speed than she had thought possible.

"I'm keeping us hidden from worse things! And I've made a shield so their magic can't harm us!" He replied scandalized at the new nickname and at her underestimation of his abilities.

"Then why the hell do you need me to throw another grenade?" She yelled, and the other boats started shooting.

"Would you rather have to fight four of them, mortal?" replied Loki, still concentrated in his seidr and moving his fingers ever-so-slightly to keep the spell working.

"Less talking more fighting here!" she avoided answering. The first boat was at her right, so she pointed Dorothy there, while holding a grenade to throw to the second boat, the one at her left. The third boat was Loki's, and it was in front of them.

Fortunately, Vanaheim only had little amounts of gunpowder, and less powerful. Unfortunately, they had magic.

Shots fired, Darcy covered and waited for them to recharge their weapons. The second she heard silence, she fired Dorothy against the boat at her right and killed the guy that was holding the Vanir gun. In the meantime, Loki was covering them from the other boats by blasting them with magic. Darcy threw the grenade to the boat at her left, missing by two meters but managing to stun them long enough for her to shoot Dorothy against the first boat and leave Loki free to concentrate on the boat in front of them, making them attack each other.

The archers of the boat at her right recovered and aimed at her. Darcy lowered her head and saw the guys in front of them trying to choke each other. Okay, one boat less to fight, apparently. And she had pretty much left the people of the second boat in a daze of deafness and confusion (loud explosions tended to cause that).

Time to throw her last grenade to the boat at her right again. The motherfuckers recovered fast. She rose her head and peeked at the guys. She didn't have a clear shot, not with the archers so ready to stick an arrow in her head. Loki wasn't covering, he could help her.

"Trickster! Can you help me directing the grenade to these bastards?" She said, and Loki turned around.

It all happened too fast for her brain to register right away. Loki turned around, eyed her and her situation and opened his mouth to say something when an arrow pierced his shoulder. He fell to the ground of the boat and groaned in pain. Panicking, Darcy recognized the arrow as the poisoned type. Loki had said it caused hallucinations and paralysis. She would have to be fast. Raw fury flashed in Loki's eyes, and he made the boat in front of them explode in thousands of pieces.

 _Okay, time to end this shit._

Darcy gathered her courage and threw her last grenade, but it exploded in the air and didn't do much damage. They were prepared this time. She crouched and crawled frantically to where Loki was sprawled.

"Trickster, please tell me you are alright" She tried to reach for him but he slapped her hand away. He was pale and his eyes were wildly trying to look around him. Darcy grabbed one of her pistols and shot to the members of the boat at their left.

"It's poisoned" He said, his breathing shallow and too fast. Darcy shot again. "Reach my bag."

Darcy tried to, but failed when the two boats left, completely recovered, shot a round of arrows to their boat. She was pretty sure the boat she was in looked like a hedgehog. Fortunately, there was no way the arrows could harm them at that distance and with both of them on the floor of the boat, so she watched them fall harmlessly around her. Darcy rolled on her side and grabbed Loki's bag for dear life.

Meanwhile, Loki seemed a little recovered, though he still had a pained expression on his face. He took the rudder and started guiding the boat towards the near coast, manually.

"What are you doing?" She asked again.

"I…my magic...I can't control it well enough for all of my spells to work simultaneously. I...have one to hide us and protect us from their magic and I can't keep speeding this at the same time."

"What do you want me to do with the bag?"

His hands were trembling and he was barely keeping it together. Darcy shot to the boats again and hit two Vanir, who fell to the water. The enemies were closer.

Loki was looking around him wildly until he could focus at her. Why had she thought he was recovered?

"As soon as we reach the land, throw the sand at the bottom of the bag...to them."Loki panted.

Everything smelled like gunpowder. Darcy could taste her own, salty sweat. The air was heavy with humidity and they were severely outnumbered. Heimdall wouldn't open the Bifröst unless they were at the safe place.

Another round of arrows fell over them, and Darcy knew they didn't have guns anymore. They were fighting with what they knew best.

Darcy peeked again just in time to see their seidr coming at them. Loki was sprawled on the floor one more time, muttering nonsense, occasionally waving his right hand over his leg.

The coast was about ten metres from them...and she had no magic.

Darcy felt the fear bubble up in her stomach and she knew she had to make a choice, _now_.

Loki did it for her when he started shivering and screaming the hell out of him, in a weird language.

Darcy inhaled, dig her hand inside Loki's bag and took a handful of something very similar to sand, but black. She flung it towards one of the boats, took another handful and threw it to the other. At first, nothing happened and she kept her eyes open, waiting, _hoping_ that whatever that black powder was worked.

Loki had stopped screaming, the seidr of the others kept coming at them, shining red in the night and she thought about her friends on Earth and the ones she had made accross the nine Realms.

Suddenly, a grey mist raised from the water and covered them all. Within seconds, Darcy couldn't see past her nose.

That's why Loki had told her to throw the sand when they had reached the coast. Fortunately she knew where that was.

But they would have to swim. The coast was tricky enough for Loki, she couldn't navigate the boat blindly. She didn't even know how to do it!

Darcy stared at Loki. He was very still, yet panting like he had been running. He was shocked. Whatever the poison that arrow had, he was tripping balls. Still, she had to try and get him to move.

"Loki" she murmured softly, only for him to hear. His name fell awkwardly from her lips. " Loki, can you swim a little?"

He didn't say anything. When she reached for him, he flinched in horror but no words left his mouth.

Fuck.

Turns out that trying to lift up a god is a no go, even when you've been working out quite a lot because, war.

Darcy cursed her bad choices and her enemies. When she heard them scream, she wondered what was happening. They were going away. And then she knew. The mist caused the enemies to be trapped in an illusion. They were escaping from that illusion.

Darcy had to act fast, because the mist wouldn't last forever. She sat up and took the lifejacket from its place. Loki always laughed at her for that, but she hated and feared water. She kept a lifejacket in the boat just in case. Good thing it was going to be useful.

Darcy had trained to be able to swim, but who knew what dark creature could be lurking in the depths, waiting for something to sink its teeth in?

That was so not the time to think about water monsters!

She tied the lifejacket around her, tied her bag to her wrist and sighed for what she was about to do. Then she took an unresponsive Loki by the good arm and literally rolled off the boat. They fell in the cold water with a loud splash and for a moment Darcy thought she was going to drown under Loki's weight. The man was sinking in the lake like a stone. She could not open her eyes and she didn't know if something was about to eat her.

Her head hit the surface and she breathed in deeply, then made sure to pull from Loki's good shoulder to take his head out the water and started kicking her legs. The cold swimming took Loki slightly out of his dazed state. He started muttering again, again something she couldn't understand.

When her feet finally touched the shallow bottom of the lake, she groaned.

"Loki" she said, trying to keep her tone low in case more enemies were around. He stared at her, his skin almost grey and his eyes lost, like a madman. "Loki, I need you to try to walk. I need you to help me, dear. We're going somewhere safe." She stared into his eyes, talking like one could talk to a scared child.

After a minute or so she kept agonizingly trudging out of the lake, he actually moved his feet along.

She knew where she had to go in case everything went out of control. Loki had had the same thought when he directed the boat to this coast.

There was a cave nearby that -of course- Loki had discovered.

Anyways, just to be sure, she whispered Heimdall's name. Nothing happened.

"I can't feel my legs..." Loki whispered in her ear and she shivered when his cold breath caused goosebumps in her skin.

"You're going to be fine, dear. I promise."

Fifteen minutes later, she reached the cave and entered it. It was dark and it smelled like a cave: humidity and earth. It was cold too.

Loki was trembling in her arms and when she tried to let him go, he swayed on the spot.

"Easy, Loki. You're gonna be fine." She murmured.

Darcy sat him against the nearest wall and proceeded to rummage inside her bag. When she finally found her fluorescent tube, she sighed and turned it on.

She couldn't make a fire because the smoke would intoxicate them, but fortunately she and Loki had left some things there in a previous mission.

The adrenaline was wearing off from her system. She shivered.

Darcy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Loki. She had to see his wound and heal it. He was once more staring blankly at the roof. His hair was damp and he was so very pale at the dim light…

When she raised the tube to see him better, he winced and closed his eyes.

"No,please, please. Thor, THOR!" He yelled, startling Darcy and trying to keep her hand away. "THOR! WHERE ARE YOU? HELP!"

For the first time since she had met him...he was crying. A stream of tears ran down his cheek.

"Loki, listen to me. You're being poisoned." She tried.

He wanted to yell one more time, to call for his brother, but his lips were numb and he could only whisper nonsense.

Her heart clenched at the sight of Loki reliving his most terrible moments. The poison was made for that.

Unable to stop the sympathy in her, she gently raised her hand again and caressed his face.

"Loki, dear...I'm sorry, but I have to take that arrow out. It will hurt a bit, but then it will be fine."

Darcy raised and took her first aid kit out of her bag. She thought longingly about Loki's first aid kit, left in the boat and much more useful than hers. Her kit for humans would have to do.

But first, she had to take part of his armour off.

Darcy examined his clothes carefully. The arrow was stuck between the shoulder plate and the chest plate.

How the hell was she supposed to know how to free him from that armour? And who the hell had that aim?

"Fuck me sideways, man." She muttered, and suddenly an idea hit her. The shoulder plate was part of his long leather coat. Leather was easier to cut.

Darcy took a knife from her bag - seriously, every time she packed she felt a little more like Mary Poppins- and sliced it rather easily from below the rib until his armpit. She then did the same to the other side.

Okay. Darcy started to move the coat up the arrow to take it off. Damn Vanir, they really had a hell of an aim.

After she managed to pull out the coat, she took the chestplate and slid it up, barely grazing his chin. Underneath the chestplate there was a green, thick shit. She could cut it with a pair of scissors, but unfortunately the ones she had were for stitches on the skin. Instead, she chose to cut the leather that covered his belly. It was a rather difficult job, since the leather was harder on that part, made to protect him from punches and kicks. After ten minutes or so, she had done it. Finally, he was only in his shirt and leather pants.

"I'm sorry, dear, but this is going to hurt." She said. Loki was completely paralyzed and unresponsive, his eyes closed tightly and heaving like a wounded animal.

Darcy examined the wound. It kept dripping a dark red mix of blood and poison. Darcy could smell it in the air.

She knew the artery was not compromised but she would not risk the arrow stuck there for an entire night before she could get professional help. It was poisoned after all.

Darcy had seen how to remove a sharp object stuck in a body. In videos. In plastic buddies. In movies. Never in real life. Either way, only one sentence had stayed in her mind: "Don't prolong the pain."

That meant she would have to be kinda brutal.

Darcy inhaled as much as she could, took the arrow between her fingers, closed her eyes and pulled it out in one sudden, firm tug.

She blinked, staring at the arrow in her hands.

It was a black, simple arrow, with a metal point that kept oozing the horrible, sticky substance. She threw it far away and took the alcohol, hoping it would help with the possible infection.

"Get out of my mind...out..out...out" Loki started repeating, startling her. But Darcy couldn't do anything about it.

She cleaned the wound as best as she could, until the bleeding almost stopped. She left him there and went to the other side of the cave, where she took off her wet clothes and put on the Asgardian most simple, old but warm enough for her needs.

Darcy thanked the gods for all the stuff they had left in the cave when they found it and hid it from view. Clothes, food, water, an Asgardian portable heater, two plates, spoon and forks.

"We're an intelligent team." She muttered while heating some canned soup. She drank water before going to check his teammate state.

"Loki." She called softly, putting a hand on his cheek.

He opened his eyes and stared at her one more time. His gaze was lost. She realized he couldn't place her.

Darcy had never wanted to acknowledge how intense his stare was, how powerful _he_ was. It was scary. But now, watching his face in front of her, feeling the hardness of his cheekbone under soft skin and cold flesh, she realized he was also beautiful. Beautiful and terrifying at the same time.

"Hela?" He said, his voice hoarse but hopeful.

The poison had made him believe he was dead. Her heart sank.

That's why she pulled her old, typical Darcy Lewis trademark trick:

"Wait, so are you implying my face is half-rotten flesh? Because that's so not how you are supposed to talk with a lady!" She feigned a scandalized expression. "I'm Darcy Lewis, silly. I've been working with you for the past year."

He frowned in confusion, still not recognizing her.

"You are beautiful."· He said.

His words surprised her. She didn't remember him ever noticing her physical aspect. They had always been a team, kinda friends. But that night she had realized he was beautiful and apparently he had, too.

It had to be the poison.

"Well, so I've been told. Now, you're a little ill. You must eat and drink something. And then you must sleep."

Darcy brought the warm soup and the water, all too aware of his piercing stare following her every move.

She sat besides him and commanded:

"Eat."

His hands trembled but couldn't raise to grab the spoon she held in front of his face.

"What's wrong with me?" He asked, suddenly fearful. You said I'm only ill."

Darcy pursed her lips. She couldn't manage a freaked out Loki right now.

"You're...wounded."

"You're lying." He affirmed, his voice much colder and harsher than seconds ago. "Don't lie to me!"

His breathing was superficial again and his whole body was shaking in anger, but unable to move.

"I'm sorry! Dude, you've been poisoned. Don't be scared. It will pass, I promise. I'll feed you now, but don't get used to it."

She spoke quickly while he analyzed her words, trying to find the lie in them.

"Fine."

Darcy sighed and started her new task, giving him some water between spoonfuls of hot, creamy soup.

"Now we go to sleep." She explained once he finished. "Can you stand up?" Yeah, a long shot but she had to ask.

He tried and his legs trembled.

"I don't think I can do that on my own, no."

He seemed a bit more on this side of the galaxy, at least.

"Come on, I got you." She slid her arm under his good side, grabbed him firmly and pulled him up.

It was a long, painful process in which Darcy asked herself what the fucking hell was with the Vanir and their poison that had made Loki, the most self-sufficient guy in the Universe, a scared baby. By the time they reached the sleeping bag, both were panting.

"You're fucking heavy. I swear to my life that I will never, ever carry you like this again." She said, and both fell to their knees.

"My clothes are wet." He complained. Now that was the Loki she knew.

"I'll help you take it off. You've dampened mines too, I forgot. Sorry."

Once he was ready, he seemed to lose his grip on reality again. His lean torso was tense, his muscles trembled in failed attempts to move them. It was kinda pathetic seeing him like that. She knew they were just hallucinations, but he looked like a scared, vulnerable child having nightmares.

Darcy also knew his nightmares were beyond comparison.

"Loki." She called, unable to resist that look. He shifted his gaze and fixed it on her face. Sudden relief softened his features.

"Darcy." He pronounced, his lips moving over her name with a kindness she had never heard coming from him. He was laying down and she was kneeling besides him, holding in her lap his ruined shirt.

"Sleep. You'll feel better in the morning." She promised, covering him with the sleeping bag. She went near the entrance of the cave and smoothed his shirt on the floor. Minutes later, his breathing was deep and rhythmical.

Darcy couldn't sleep. Now that she had nothing to do but wait and watch, her mind was trying to wrap around the fact that she had killed people.

"It was them or us. It's called self-defense." She whispered for herself.

It had happened before, a few times. Those Vanir were not the first ones she had killed and she was sure they wouldn't be the last. But she couldn't get over the fact that those were living, thinking beings, and that she had terminated their lives like she had the right to do so.

Darcy realized her hands were trembling and her breathing was far too quick. A well known anguish made her heart race. She had become a murderer. The sounds around her suddenly became too loud for her ears: her heart, the echo of Loki's breathing, her own lungs filling and emptying rapidly. Everything felt surreal, even the cold light of the fluorescent tube. Even her own arms, bracing her knees.

She felt how the oxygen in the room started to scarce. Maybe she was about to die there, in that hidden cave, away from her friends. She closed her eyes and saw the image of Kamilios trying to breathe while he choked and spit his own blood. The way he had tried to take off the arrow with jerky fingers. The way his lifeless body sounded when he fell to the floor, low and heavy against the leaves of the forest.

The soothing voice of Eir came to her mind. Breathing. That was the key.

Darcy breathed deeply through her nose, forcing her heart to slow down its frantic beating against her chest. The world still seemed blurry around the edges, but at least that oppressive feeling was lifted off her chest. She realized her hands were clenched in fists and wriggled her fingers to relax them. There was enough oxygen. They were safe. She was safe. She had saved Loki. Heimdall would see them, as soon as they reached the safe clearing in the forest. Loki would be better by the next day.

Darcy felt tears prickling her eyes and after checking that Loki was still sleeping, she allowed them to run down her cheeks.

That was a long night, one in which Darcy missed her own hidden, little house in New York. It had a little yard, one that was abandoned when she bought the house. She had planted flowers there, inside old, hand-painted pots. She kept her "medicinal herbs" there, ready for when she wanted a moment of peace on her own.

The panic rose and lowered in her chest the entire night, but she continued breathing and trying to think of her flowers, her books and the funny moments with her friends.

Eventually, her phone started ringing to "I'm feeling good" and Darcy stretched her sore muscles and turned the alarm off, heading outside to relieve herself before Loki woke up.

She packed everything as fast as she could, knowing they would face Odin's rage as soon as they stepped into Asgard. It was going to be a problem, she knew it.

Loki seemed to be actually resting. Too bad she was going to wake him up. She kneeled beside him and saw that the wound was completely healed, leaving a thin, silvery scar behind. He looked so relaxed…

"Dude. Wake up. Heimdall is going to kill us." She shook his shoulder gently.

His eyes snapped open and he gripped her wrist. He looked like a wild animal, ready to fight and kill. So much for the relaxed look.

Loki saw her and he let go of her hand as if it was on fire.

"What happened?"

Then he saw he was half-naked and raised a suspicious eyebrow at her. Darcy tried - in vain- not to facepalm.

"Last night you said your shirt was wet. I helped you. If you don't remember anything, it's a long story and definitely not one for now. Do you remember anything?"

"...Flashes. Only flashes. I got hit by…" he paled. " A poisoned arrow! Norns, my head is killing me…"

"We all know your head is fucked up, Loki. Now, move those legs of yours, we need to go now if we want to survive." She hurried him.

Loki stood up, the action taking its toll when he swayed a little. Darcy was heading out of the cave when he realized.

"WHAT ON EARTH HAPPENED TO MY ARMOUR?" He yelled, staring horrified at it.

"Um...desperate circumstances call for desperate measures?" She offered weakly."Okay, you had an arrow piercing your shoulder, and I had to take it off."

"By tearing my armour into rags?" He picked up the pieces and stared at them.

"It's not like I knew any other way to free you from it. I'm not very familiar with alien leather." She said, crossing her arms defensively.

Darcy was so not in the mood to argue. She needed a bath, a movie and lots of linnen tea. Possibly two days of good rest as well.

"You could have just untied it! The ties are right here!" He shook some black strips in her direction.

Okay, that was it. Darcy felt something snap inside her and walked to him furious. She took the rests of the armour from him and screamed to his face.

"I DIDN'T KNOW, UNDERSTAND? DO YOU THINK I HAVE EXPERIENCE IN THIS STUPID ASS MEDIEVAL ARMOUR?" He took a few steps back. She looked like a Valkyrie! "I DON'T! YOU WERE TRIPPING BALLS, I HAD JUST _KILLED_ A BUNCH OF VANIR AND I NEEDED TO TAKE THAT ARROW OFF BEFORE TODAY SO YOU COULD USE YOUR GODDAMN LEGS FOR US TO GET OUT OF HERE!" She cut the screaming when she realized her temper was winning the best of her. She had inadvertently confessed she had trouble killing people to someone who didn't and was probably going to tease her about it for the rest of her life.

Loki shifted the weight of his legs, obviously realizing how childish his tantrum was.

He was still half naked, but in that moment he put the shirt on, wincing when his arms trembled a bit.

"Come on. We're on bigger trouble than this." Darcy said coldly.

They headed the safe clearing in no time and both rolled their eyes when they saw the Bifröst coming at them before they said a word to Heimdall.

* * *

They were only given half an hour to change and clean themselves before the epic berating started.

"TRYING TO FACE THIRTY ENEMIES ON YOUR OWN! HIDING YOURSELVES FROM HEIMDALL'S SIGHT SHORTLY AFTERWARDS! DISAPPEARING FOR FIFTEEN HOURS!" Yelled Odin, quite loudly for a guy his age.

Loki was completely serious - welcomed change for everyone, since he always had an annoying smirk in the presence of his not-father -, staring at some point between Odin and Thor, who wasn't too happy himself.

"If I may…" tried Darcy, but Odin was not quite finished.

"YOU MAY NOT, MORTAL! YOU AND LOKI DISOBEYED AN EXPRESS ORDER! WE WERE ABOUT SENDING THOR!"

Darcy recognized the feeling growing inside of her. She was sick of Asgardians calling her "mortal", as if having a long lifespan was a guarantee of wisdom, goodness and integrity. Ask Thanos about it.

Suddenly, a voice raised above the others.

"Miss Darcy Lewis saved my life." Affirmed Loki.

All the murmurs that could be heard in the room sopped. The presents (Jane, Thor, Odin, Sif and The Warriors Three) bounced their eyes between Darcy and Loki with expressions going from "this little shit is lying again" to "what the fuck is going on here".

"Say what?" Croaked Jane, always the first one to ask questions. She was unable to believe what Loki had nonchalantly stated a moment ago.

Loki smirked his signature smirk: mischievous, a little crazy and definitely mocking.

"I said that Miss Lewis saved my life."

"How so?" Thor stared at his brother intently, trying to find the truth in Loki's green eyes.

"We were invited to a dance, and we agreed to go because we wanted a last chance to convince Kamilios and the other Elders to join our side. Right in the middle of it, our enemies, a Vanir community from the North, shot Kamilios and killed him." Several gasps could be heard in the room, but Loki continued. "We managed to escape, but a Netvora followed us. We had to hide from it and so I did, with a spell. We ran to the lake because the Netvora had already sensed us. Unfortunately, when we thought we were safe, more enemies appeared and recognized us. I was shot with a poisoned arrow and Miss Lewis defended me, guided our boat to the safe cave and….took off the arrow before half of the poison could damage me."

Everyone looked like they had been hit by a lightning, including Darcy. Lastly, Odin cleared his throat and spoke.

"Is this true, miss Lewis?"

"Yes?" Darcy rushed to explain. "I mean, I definitely took out an arrow of his shoulder. A poisoned one."

"Then, Loki, you promise over Gugnir that you're speaking the truth?"

Odin raised from the throne and stepped forward, placing Gugnir in front of him with a solemn gesture.

Loki's face was a carefully controlled, inexpressive mask. He walked to the throne, climbed the stairs and put two fingers on the spear.

"I swear that Miss Lewis saved my life, that we were being attacked and that I hid us with a spell. I am not lying." He said, his voice very similar to a growl.

After all the hard work, after the confession...Loki swallowed his rage and kept a little smirk playing on his lips. Lewis did not know about the arrow, about its actual danger. It was very simple: he hand't told her about it. He had thought that there was no way the Vanir could damage him in any way. He thought that if she was hurt, he was better than any healer. She didn't need to know. She didn't need to know how easily Vanir poison could kill him. He wasn't sure she wouldn't try to make amends for the damage he had done to Midgard years ago. He could have been dead by the morning if she had thought that taking it off was not her work, that a healer could do it better… she didn't panick, she took it out with little medical knowledge, and she had saved his life.

And he had a question, just waiting to escape from his lips. One he tried not to pay any attention to. What would have she done if she had knew the arrow was deadly and he was defenseless? Would she had saved him?

He certainly had killed lots of humans.

The question was already stinging like a thorn in his mind. He barely noticed how Odin dismissed both of them and the guards guiding them towards the exit.

He was so deeply focused in his own mind that he didn't notice either the hand flying towards his face until it slapped him.

He blinked. What?

Miss Lewis was furious. Her cheeks were red, her eyebrows were knitted together and her lips had a sneer of rage on them.

Beautiful.

The word sounded strangely familiar to him and he wondered why. He certainly had not seen her as anything but an allie.

"What was that for?" He asked, casting aside the thoughts.

"Why didn't you tell me before about how dangerous the arrow was?" She hissed through gritted teeth, eyeing the guards to make sure they couldn't hear.

Oh, that was the answer to his question, then. He would have to put only a little pressure to draw the words out of her, that was it.

"Does it pain you to have come so, so close without knowing you could eliminate a threat?" Loki raised an eyebrow and intertwined his fingers behind his back.

Darcy's face was all confusion, until realization hit.

"Eliminate a threat?" She asked and gestured towards the front garden. "We can't talk here."

They walked until there were no guards on sight. She turned around to face him.

"Explain what do you mean by 'eliminate a threat'". She demanded.

"It is actually very simple. I am a threat. I have killed many Midgardians. You could have let me die last night, if I had told you that the arrows were deadly."

Darcy rolled her eyes, but when she spoke her voice was serious.

"Yes. You have killed lots of humans. You tried to enslave my planet. You commited treason to your own people. You have done lots of terrible things. Nothing is going to erase that. But who hasn't? I mean, now I've killed people, and I'm not a superhero or anything. But think about it. Before the war, before Thanos...Tony used to sell weapons of mass destruction. I can assure you he's responsible for a lot of deaths and diseases. I know this because I hated the guy, before he was kidnapped and started the superhero thing. Natasha was an assassin and she killed without asking. The Hulk levelled a couple cities. If you've heard about Ultron, yeah, Tony and Bruce's idea. Sokovia was their responsibility. Wanda, the Black Panther… the Civil War, Jesus! You know what's the difference? Now they try to do good things. Thanos is worse than anything we have ever faced before as a Galaxy. We had to leave our differences aside to fight this bigger evil. And you confessed, saved Jane, helped saving the Universe from the Dark Elves...and no, a few good actions do not erase the terrible ones. But at least, you are trying. Give yourself that before thinking everyone is going to try to kill you at the first opportunity."

"I saved Thor's mortal only because Frigga died for her."

"So what? Who cares about why you save someone? You could've just let the Kurse kill her and free the Aether when you went to the Dark World. Make a deal with those elves. After all, you were going back to prison. Of course you didn't go back to prison, you tried to take over Asgard and then, when Odin caught you, you confessed. So you finally went back to 'domiciliary prison'. And a while later, when Thanos finally appeared, you actually worked with me. You keep working with me. You have made pretty good things this past year. The way I see it, you have two choices now: either you spend the rest of your long life being a bitter ass, or you grow up, learn to live with your actions and start again." Loki was speechless. "This is not new for you, I'm sure Eir has told you something similar before… with a little more professionalism. So to answer your question no, I wasn't asking about the arrow because I lost the chance to eliminate you. If you had told me this before, the real power of the poison, I would've been faster to take it out. I dragged your butt all the way to the cave because I thought you were tripping balls, not actually dying in front of my eyes."

Loki was speechless. He had been sure she wouldn't save his life if she could let him die. He had promised himself not to be vulnerable in front of her in any mission. Instead, she had scolded him like one does to a child. She had talked a lot about his past actions as if they were not a taboo but something to have a dialogue about. He had to say something!

"I-I...thank you, miss Lewis." He stuttered.

"You're welcome, I guess." Darcy felt a little awkward by that speech. She had taken the first chance she saw to say a few things she had been thinking a lot the past year.

They stood like that for a moment. avoiding each other's eyes. With a sense of adrenaline, she raised her hand at him.

"Friends?" Darcy offered cautiously, knowing she could be easily rejected and trying not to care so much if that happened.

Loki was, once again, speechless. He realized that so far she was the only one who could do that. Leave him mute. Or stammer while talking.

It was new and terrifying. She was offering him friendship. That meant vulnerability. For a second, he thought about turning around and leaving her. But suddenly something that Eir had said in one of their long conversations came to his mind: " _Only the stupid ones think they don't need friends. A friend is not something you have to earn, Loki, through deceit and lies, by showing them your best side and hiding your failures. A friend is someone who knows every little fault, everything you did wrong and yet, they choose to stay by your side."_

She was doing that same thing. To him. How?

"I don't know how to be friends with someone." He admitted trying to remove from his words any kind of sentiment.

They shook hands and Darcy, Miss Lewis, smiled.

"It's not that hard. You start by exchanging books. That is very, very important. You'll see soon enough."

Loki narrowed his eyes and smiled briefly. It was a new kind of smile. One that did not have so much darkness and self loath inside it.

"I have my personal library at your disposition, Miss Lewis, though you may find too many boring books about magic in it."

She grinned almost maniacally, and raised her eyebrows.

"Silverpants, you don't know how long I've been dreaming to hear those words coming out of your mouth. I will manage, don't worry. I'll bring you some of my books next time. Now, I have to go if I don't want Heimdall scolding me for not arriving on time. See you!"

She winked, turned around and started running to the Bifröst.

"Farewell." He nodded once at her and tried to crush the little, warm flame of hope that ignited inside his chest.

Maybe Eir was right. Even when she was a mortal, even after all his crimes, she wanted to be his friend. He would try not to ruin everything this time.


	4. Chapter 4

**I've forgotten to update this site, but the story is finished. Um, I'm probably going to go permanently to Ao3 right now, so maybe if y'all want to follow me there...I am deleting the stories not finished here, because I'll only update there. Let me know what you think! Long chapter, this one.**

* * *

"In the space between chaos and shape there was another chance."

― **Jeanette Winterson**

* * *

The plane flew swiftly in the clear night. It would arrive to its destination in three hours, fifteen minutes time. Inside of it, two people in a complete, resentful silence. At least from one of them.

"Miss Lewis…"

"Cut it, Loki. I'm not talking to you." Darcy answered without even a glance in his direction, but he knew better. It was all fake.

"Only because I think Harry Potter should not have started a relationship with Ginny Weasley after the Battle of Hogwarts?"

Darcy gasped in fury - like she did every time Loki brought up the subject-, glaring at him through her glasses.

 _One on my favor,_ he thought.

"I am not going to argue with you all the reasons why Ginny does belong with Harry, muggle."

Ah, the muggle thing. Feeble attempt at insulting him.

Loki chuckled.

"Miss Lewis, between us two, wouldn't you be the muggle one?"

Darcy narrowed her eyes and pointed a finger in his direction.

"Look, Salazar Slytherin, not having magic has nothing to do with being a muggle!"

"Really?" He asked nonchalantly. "I thought that was the very definition of the word. An individual who has no magic or whatsoever."

"Shut the hell up or I'll start talking about being the mother of eight-legged horses, giant snakes and wolves." Loki pursed his lips. "And, FYI, Ginny is the best and you know nothing." She added after a moment.

The sound of his laughter filled the space. Those were still rare occasions, never in the presence of a third person and never twice the same day. But when he laughed, Darcy cherished the sound. It made her happy that her friend was slowly recovering. Eir was a great influence in his life, for she was trustworthy and not even Odin himself could make her talk about the things that Loki said in their conversations. Eir had accepted to see Loki daily, and Thor looked more hopeful than ever asking Darcy about his brother.

"So, what's our mission this night?" Darcy asked after a while. She had been busy and couldn't make it to the reunion where they explained what was happening, so he would have to explain her.

Loki sighed.

"Apparently, there are traitors in Asgard. Odin is suspicious about two of his war generals, they have been a little...ambiguous when talking about strategies. At the same time, the Avengers have been following closely the actions of a group of Midgardians that want to join Thanos. They are the heads, of course, there are others...lots of others. It seems that these two groups are going to reunite tonight, in order to plan a bigger strategy."

"Um, and how does Odin know all this stuff? Like, why is he suspicious? Does he have evidence? I don't want their heads off because he thought someone was trying to betray him."

Miss Lewis was so obsessed with the wrongness of a monarchy that it was almost...endearing. She always questioned Odin's decisions. She always questioned the mere existence of monarchy. She secretly laughed about all the titles Odin's subjects called him. She got angry at the injustice of the Universe. It was almost näive.

Loki turned his head and winked, surprising her.

"No, Miss Lewis. I can assure you these generals are traitors."

Darcy eyed him suspiciously.

"How do you know for sure?"

Loki's smile widened.

"Because they came to talk to me." Darcy gasped. "They offered me to participate and help end Odin's tyranny. In exchange of 'intel', as you would say, they offered me...the throne. Freedom, they said, and the throne of Asgard."

"Did you accept?"

"Of course. I am going to play a game I am very, very good at."

The way he said it, staring at her intently, an almost sensuous note in his voice, sent shivers down her spine. She was unable to speak for a moment, until she got herself together and erased the thoughts from her mind.

"And my role is going to be…?"

"Our main objective tonight is to gather photographic evidence of the conspiracy and, if possible, audio evidence. As a proof of my loyalty to them, I will have you as my prisoner. After all, you _are_ the official ambassador of Midgard and they know and hate you."

"That's...well, actually, I like this idea! Do we have to capture them?"

"Yes."

"Amazeballs! Knock baddies down and give them to the justice. That's what a superhero does. I already feel the righteousness inside of me growing the size of Hulk!" She jested and Loki chuckled. "How many of them are there?"

"Only eight. Four humans, two Vanir and the two Asgardians."

"Piece of cake! Hey, can we pretend like we fought?"

Loki frowned.

"Why?"

"Just because. We've had that fake blood for months and I want to use it! Pretty please?"

Loki sighed again, paying attention to the board of the plane.

"Yes."

"Yes! I will paint a few blows here and there, and be sure as hell I'm going to paint a blow in your nose too."

"Why me?"

"Because I'm a kickass and I want to offer resistance when you drag me inside the snake's nest."

"That will make me look less powerful."

"I'm not going to be your bitch if you don't have a blow..." She blushed. "Well, that was awkward. My point stands though: you're going to be punched."

"If I am punched then you will be my bitch?" He asked innocently, but Darcy narrowed her eyes and pointed a finger at him.

"I'm no one's bitch! I'll just be… a better prisoner. Now, I'll go find that blood."

She turned on the auto co-pilot and turned around, rummaging through some cardboard boxes until she found the small bottle with fake blood inside it.

"Aha! By the way, where are you going to land?"

"Inside the Tower. The meeting is in a bar in the Harlem. You will drive us there, coerced by me, of course."

"Sounds good."

Darcy painted wounds on her forehead and her lower lip, red and swollen, then proceeded to ruffle her hair.

She was wearing a grey, silk blouse and black slacks. Eyeing the false blood with resignation, she let a few drops fall on her blouse and sighed. The amount of elegant, not precisely cheap clothing she had ruined on unexpected assignments was alarmingly increasing, and it wasn't like she had time to buy new ones.

"So? What do you think?" Loki glanced at her.

"You look rather awful, miss Lewis."

"Great." Darcy smiled leaving the things in the box again and turning off the auto co-pilot.

Not fifteen minutes later, they landed in the Avengers tower. The team was already waiting for them.

They approached the Quinjet and Darcy climbed down of it as fast as she could.

"My daughter has finally come to visit me!"

Darcy rolled her eyes and beamed at the man walking towards her with his eyes open wide.

"Tony motherfrikin' Snark!" She punched him on the shoulder playfully and then hugged him. "Also known as my media dad!"

"Oh, my fictional bastard child, I've missed you!"

"Missed you too, jerk!"

She let him go and looked around, smiling and starting to talk to everyone.

Loki had discreetly stayed inside the Quinjet, preparing the weapons they were going to use and making sure everything was in order. The Avengers were not his friends, but hers. He didn't even like New York.

Through the years, Earth's Mightiest Heroes had been either fighting villains or fighting each other during the Civil War. In that time, new members had been added to the team. A girl with very interesting powers, a guy with a metal arm that was Steve Rogers' best friend, and another boy, one who could run faster than anyone he had ever met. There were others, he knew, but he still hadn't met them.

He felt a hand on the shoulder and jumped, startled. The Black Widow looked at him with her usual indecipherable smirk.

"Everything okay?" She asked.

Natasha Romanoff was the only one that could get near him without him noticing. It was disturbing. Loki nodded.

"I'm glad."

She left him without another word.

Loki sighed and climbed down the Quinjet, preparing himself to interact with the people that once had defeated him.

"Good evening." He greeted.

Suddenly, he felt the invasion of another mind trying to read his thoughts and narrowed his eyes at the Witch, Wanda.

"I would appreciate if you stopped that." Loki said through gritted teeth, trying not to give her a taste of his powers.

"I'm sorry, it's a bad habit of mine." she said, but her smile was a little too wide for it to be true.

Her mind draw away and Loki looked around him.

"How have you been, Reindeer Games? Fancy a drink? The Tower is brand new - again-. Apparently this time can resist the attacks and stop falling."

Loki grinned to Anthony. Maybe not all the Avengers were his enemies.

"I'm fine, and no, thank you."

"No alcohol before a mission? Very healthy."

"Indeed."

the Man of Iron winked at him and both walked to where Miss Lewis was gesturing vividly and telling anecdotes.

"...and then _boom!_ All the dwarves threw their axes and hit the same spot over and over again. It was awesome! Very Tolkien-ish."

Loki's mood fell. His...Thor, was there. He was smiling and nodding to corroborate Miss Lewis' story. Pietro, the fast-runner, was staring at her with a certain look in his eyes…

Loki stepped forward.

"Miss Lewis, everything's ready." He called.

"Oh!" Her smile faltered for a second, but she quickly recovered. "Alright. Let's go then! Bye guys!"

They both turned around and started to leave.

"Brother." Thor stopped him in his tracks, but Darcy continued her way to the Quinjet. She had to gather the weapons and she didn't want to listen to Thor and Loki arguing _again_.

"Brother" he repeated "be careful. These men are dangerous."

Loki was about to retort something hurtful, just to have a bit of fun, but for some reason he couldn't manage it.

"I will." He simply said. He left before Thor could say anything else.

Loki and Darcy took the weapons and headed to the elevator. The car was waiting for them at the basement.

"As usual I am carrying the heavier weapons. Really, you could use a little more chivalry on your side."

"Miss Lewis, I can assure you the things I'm holding are heavier than the ones you are."

"You're the God of Lies!"

"Very well then." Loki placed the equipment carefully on the floor. "Exchange."

"Time to prove my point" she teased,but her eyes widened when she lifted up the weapons Loki was holding seconds ago. He had his arms crossed and a knowing smirk on his lips.

Darcy stared at him half a second.

"Nevermind. Give me my equipment back!"

"I think you mean _our_ equipment, Miss Lewis." Loki was clearly making fun of her, but she giggled.

"Yeah, it might be ours but I am the one carrying it to the car."

"I told you."

They exchanged the weaponry again and finally headed to the elevator. The doors closed behind them.

"I wonder how much time will take for these two to finally get down and dirty." Commented Tony when they were gone. His statement was followed by various noises of affirmation, a sigh from Thor and a scoff from Pietro.

Wanda only had the tiniest of smirks on her face.

* * *

Darcy drove the car through the streets of New York singing along to every song they put on the radio. The Harlem was an hour away and Loki realized she was doing that to calm herself.

"Aaaaall byyy myyyseeelf! Dont wanna beeeee, all byyy myyyyyseeeelf, anymooore!"

Loki stared through the window. At least she wasn't a bad singer, though midgardian songs left much to desire.

A while later, Darcy parked nearby when Jarvis indicated her that the bar was close, and took the brush and the fake blood out of her bag. She looked at him expectantly, asking permission.

"Go ahead. Before I change my mind." He warned, but she didn't take it seriously.

"Okay." Darcy studied his face intently. "So, let's say I punched you in the nose...from the left, the blow would be just...here." She poked his nose. Her skin was warm and soft.

The touch awoke a lot of sensations in Loki's body. She was unaware of it, humming happily for herself and grazing his skin with the brush. When she was finished, she took his chin between her fingers and moved his head to the side.

Loki was almost agonizingly aware of the warmth of her fingers, her smell, the little grin playing on her full lips...those lips, by the Norns! Who was to blame for those lips?

"I think it's nice." She snapped him out of his thoughts.

"I will cast an illusion over your clothes, so they appear a little more...ruined. The fake blood is doing a good job already, but not nearly good enough for this people. Close your eyes."

Darcy did it and felt the tingling of Loki's magic all over her body. She shivered. It was like feeling...

"There. Done."

"Let's go! Um, I mean, let me go, bitch?"

They climbed out of the car and walked to the bar. Loki grabbed her by the wrist and twisted her arm carefully. She used her other hand to take off the little vial with fake blood and put a few drops on her teeth, making them seem bloodied.

"I thought you were my bitch." He commented and she stepped on his foot.

Darcy became serious when the bar was on sight. She focused on her job: pretending she had been just betrayed by one of their most powerful allies against Thanos. Loki held her tightly but not to the point of pain.

They entered the bar and Darcy could only see that it was dark and it smelled like smoke before Loki shoved her into the nearest chair, in front of the group.

That was so not like the movies! The traitors were not meeting in some dark, abandoned building or in the darkest corner of the bar, speaking in whispers. No. They were in the middle of the place, talking loudly to each other as if they were immune. Maybe they could have used some more movies. There was no way SHIELD didn't know about this meeting if they were so bold as to reunite in such a public place.

"Good evening, Loki." Said one of the Asgardian generals. Darcy knew him. His name was Egil. He had always been kind to her.

She wondered what had Thanos promised him to make him change like that. There was nothing kind about his grey eyes. Nothing at all.

The other only Asgardian she knew was Aghi.

"Gentlemen." Loki nodded and sat next to Darcy without a spare glance,a vain grin on his lips, like he was the boss. All of them nodded with varying degrees of respect.

"Miss Lewis…" Started one of the Vanir, looking at her. "What do you think you are doing tonight in this place?"

She glowered at him.

"Obviously, I am not having a drink."

Loki was impressed. Her acting skills were almost perfect. She seemed scared, but also reckless. He wondered how much truth that acting had. He could tell the others believed her.

"Oh, well, that's just the tip of the iceberg...as a matter of fact, you are here for two reasons. Firstly, because you must pay for what you did to the Vanir on your last mission there. Secondly, because you have information that The Supreme wants."

Despite herself, Darcy snorted.

"Yeah? Wait, so, does he make you guys call him 'da supreme', or did you just made that up?"

One of the men slapped her and Loki had to push down the sudden rise of killing magic in his chest.

"What's the plan, then?" He said, breathing deeply and still ignoring her.

"Control your human pet, or The Supreme will take care of her." Warned one of the Vanir, but Loki shrugged.

"I doubt he will. She's nothing. Or is she too much for you?"

"She knows the location of one of the Infinity Stones. The Supreme wants it. We _will_ take care of her."

Meanwhile, she had paled.

Darcy knew things she wasn't supposed to. It was...a talent, if she could say so herself. She wasn't supposed to know about the Inhumans, for example. She wasn't supposed to know about Wakanda, or about HYDRA and their brainwashing. She knew all those things.

She also knew what the Infinity Stones _were_.

They had the power to bring the end of the Universe.

The only problem was, she wasn't the one who knew the location of one of them.

That was Jane, and Darcy hadn't been able to persuade her in any way to tell her.

She swallowed hard.

Loki felt his mind stop for a moment.

Miss Lewis wasn't supposed to know that.

Hel, he had tried to know but the information had been carefully hidden from him. Especially hidden from him.

Meanwhile, her usually rosy cheeks were almost white.

"Who told you that bullshit?" Her voice quivered ever-so-slightly. Loki was the only one who noticed.

"Bullshit? I have Odin's trust. Do you doubt him?"

Darcy laughed almost hysterically, but Loki interrupted.

"As much as I want to discuss about how stupid the Allfather is, how do you plan on extracting this information out of her?"

His eyes wandered over her almost casually.

"Torture, unless you have something better in mind." Aghi eyed him, a dirty, knowing look.

He was still looking at her, his green eyes almost boring into hers. She could see the tiniest spark of magic right inside the black pupil.

"Oh, torture is not the best method. If Odin trusted her with this information, it is because he knew she would not be easily broken by torture."His lips curved up in the most shadowy smirk she had ever seen on him. Darcy felt a hand on her knee, trailing upwards slightly. She flinched and more color drained from her face. "There's a much simpler method. Let me take care of her. I know her. I know her... weak spots. It shall be fun. Her own shame will be so heavy that she won't be able to call for her friends. It will taint her for the rest of her miserable, short life."

"Monster!" She spat, lurching her body to scratch his face, fury in her features but fear in her eyes. He held her easily and pushed her on her chair again. She rose up again and Loki snapped his fingers, tying her hands to her back and her legs to the chair.

"What do I gain in this, besides this…pet? She won't last much."

Everyone around the table seemed to wake from a dream, except the Asgardians.

"You'll see, Loki, that is the reason you are here as well...Odin said something very interesting just last night. We honestly thought you were Asgardian, but then the Allfather called me last night to ask me a favour. And he told me your dirty family secret. After, of course, asking me to keep an eye on you."

"We thought you Asgardian all along, you see? But instead, you're not his son. You're not even Asgardian. You are the filthy bastard of a monster. Laufey. So no, you are not going to make the mortal confess. She will be mine." Added the other Asgardian, despite and fury in his voice.

Apparently, they were all aware of the situation. His heritage.

Everyone stood up at the same time and Loki broke the spell that kept Darcy tied up to her chair.

"You aren't to survive this night, monster offspring!"

One of the Vanir suddenly pulled out a blowgun and shot a dart at Loki, hitting him on the shoulder.

"Not again" Loki muttered, taking it off sharply. But the poison was already in his system and his magic was suddenly out of his reach. "Nevermind Odin's orders, Miss Lewis. I am going to kill them."

"He has no magic! Finish him!" Someone screamed.

That was Darcy's moment, since nobody had noticed she was free. She pulled out a gun from her previously magically hidden bagpack, shot one of the humans and punched another in the face. The man grabbed his nose, whimpering.

"No killing!" She shot out to Loki and threw a spare gun at him. Tony had given them the pistols that had dendrotoxin-something...I.C.E.R's? Darcy had heard something like that. Anyways, it was not possible to kill someone with that kind of gun.

Loki's face wrinkled in anger. He caught the weapon Miss Lewis threw at him and quickly shot one Vanir and Egil, the Asgardian that he hated the most. Aghi pointed at him with a sword and Loki smiled a half-mad smile before starting to fight.

Darcy dodged a kick and received punch in the gut that sent her tumbling to the ground, weapon firmly clutched in her hand. She wasn't about letting it go.

"Jesus!" She kicked the man in the crotch and he fell besides her, screaming. "God damn it, dude! Fuck you!" She took his gun, threw it away and resolved it was not worth wasting a toxic bullet. He wouldn't be back up so soon. She glanced at Loki. He was fighting Aghi and one of the Vanir. He caught the blowgun and split it in two. He was busy.

Darcy crawled and knocked over a table to cover behind it. A man pointed at her and another screamed something about not killing her.

Right. They needed her alive. Cliché.

She stood up, gun ready, and a the guy she had kicked in the balls tackled her. Miscalculations about men¡s tolerance of pain right there, she thought while falling down again. The man tried to pin her down, but Darcy writhed frantically, trying to free her hand and shoot him.

She had managed to be half up again, when another man kicked her hand and forced her to let her weapon go. Darcy whimpered in pain and finally gave in and punched the one that had her in the face. He fell on her lap, his nose bleeding a lot and fortunately knocked out.

The next, she never saw it coming. There was a crash on the back of her head, the certainty of the cracking sound on her skull that could only mean something had broken, her teeth clattering together, a searing pain, and then everything went black.

Loki did see it. One mortal had her trapped by the legs, another had took her weapon and there was a third one approaching from behind. Her lip was bleeding. She had several cuts on her arms that she probably didn't realize were bleeding too. There was one man stunned, another had just been knocked out by her, but she wasn't noticing…

The third disarmed her.

The fourth one made the fatal mistake.

He was a tall man. Short hair, furrowed brow… He had a chair in his hands. A total detachment on the situation. Lifeless eyes.

He crashed the chair on her head.

Darcy's blue eyes widened in pain and shock before her body went limp on the floor. The man bent to grab her and take her away.

Afterwards, he wasn't really sure how he had managed. Vanir and Asgardians were powerful enemies.

He got rid of them and ran, stopping in front of the man before he could touch Miss Lewis. Loki lifted him up by the neck. When the man was standing up, he gripped his throat smirking, feeling the blood run in his arteries and pressing his fingers even more to stop the flow.

The blood stopped running and he felt the man's larynx under his palm. His face was almost blue and he was desperately gasping for air, his fingers trying to free him from Loki's grip.

More.

More.

More.

His neck broke with a snapping sound and when he fell to the floor, he was dead.

Loki realized there was another man standing at his side.

It was the owner of the bar.

"Mind your business if you want to live." He warned, but the human made a gesture for Loki to look around and he saw everyone else was knocked out and the owner of the bar had Darcy's gun in his hand.

Loki examined Miss Lewis. He had never thought she could be so...unbearably human. It was, perhaps, the fact that she had hold her own in every single mission and even saved his life once that tricked him into almost forgetting how much of a human she was. Her friendship'd had influenced into that as well.

His fingers found her neck before his mind truly acknowledged the situation. She was alive, she was breathing, but the wound in her head was potentially mortal. Her blood was staining the floor.

Darcy whimpered and barely opened her eyes.

"Darcy" he called softly, his fingers barely brushing her neck.

"L...Loki?"

He needed to take her to the Avengers Tower in that moment.

"Heimdall, I shall take Miss Lewis to a healing room in the Tower. You can let the Allfather know that he can send someone to collect the prisoners any time now."

He remembered the man and turned around.

"Who are you?"

"A friend. Could you stay here and watch over these?" He almost yelled, staring to the ceiling. Loki shot him an incredulous look.

A woman with a stern look on her face appeared from a staircase and walked to them without a word.

"She's injured. We will take her to Tony's."

She nodded and gave him the tiniest of smirks before taking out rope from somewhere. She started tying the enemies up.

The owner of the bar turned to him.

"Let's go", he indicated with a nod of his head.

Loki had carried injured people before. Thor -more than once-, Fandral in Jotunheim, Sif in one memorable occasion in which she spared him her usual insulting phrases...but he had never, even been so careful. He kneeled besides Darcy, whom was blinking slowly but otherwise unresponsive, and the man spoke up.

"We need to put her on a plain surface." He walked towards the nearest table, tore apart its legs and put it on the floor. Loki realized that the mortal man probably had some superhuman ability. He went to Darcy's feet and grabbed her ankles. Loki put a hand on the small of her back and another just where the neck joined the head.

"We'll move her at the count of tree. One, Two...three!"

Darcy was on the improvised stretcher, though she didn't seem to realise.

"Tell him where the shortcut is so you can get there faster." The woman said.

Loki grabbed the table and started dragging it towards the exit. The black man went outside first, still holding Darcy's gun, to check it was safe to get to the car.

"What's your name?" Asked Loki to the woman, who was already staring at him.

"I'm Jessica. Jessica Jones." She replied, and kicked the Asgardian that was starting to move with a little too much force.

"Thank you, Jessica Jones."

She nodded.

With the help of the man he put Darcy in the back of the car. Loki felt a slight numbness in his fingers. His magic was coming closer. Clever from the enemies to restrain his magic, knowing he wasn't a powerfully skilled warrior like he was a sorcerer.

Unfortunately, even when he had the magic enough to do it, he couldn't cure her. Healing magic had never been his forte, and he could only heal himself.

"Tell Stark to prepare his Midgardian experts. Darcy is injured and it is serious."Loki said to Jarvis as soon as he started the car.

The ride to the Tower was fast and brief. Loki was driving and to him, speed limits meant nothing. The man indicated the shortcut and that saved them time as well. When they entered the private parking lot, Tony and Thor were already waiting for them, with a real stretcher and doctor Helen Cho, a famous mortal woman whom Darcy seemed to adore.

Loki pressed the brakes and climbed down to open the door, already feeling dizzy from the effects of the poison and lack of adrenaline.

Everything started happening in flashes and bits.

"You should've called _me_!" Tony screaming. A hard, plastic structure being put around Darcy's neck. Her blood in the back of the car. His magic, still unreachable.

The sound of the stretcher's wheels on the floor, dragging Darcy away.

A moment later, a hand on his shoulder.

"Brother. The enemies have all been captured."

Loki took a small knife from his hidden pocket and stabbed his brother on the side. He flinched in pain, but recovered quickly. After all, unlike humans, Asgardians healed in seconds.

The rage he had been containing since the moment he saw Darcy on the floor suddenly exploded inside him. His vision red, he charged at his brother with a battle cry.

Only later, when he found himself at the training rooms, everything around him broken or torn apart and his brother tightening his grip around his neck, he realized.

"I am not your brother, idiotic Allfather's puppet." He hissed, breathless.

Thor loosened his fingers and Loki fell on his knees, panting heavily.

"Not by blood." Thor answered and wiped sweat out of his forehead. "And I am not a puppet. Go take a shower, Loki. You are injured."

As soon as he gave him his back, Loki attacked again.

He woke up later in a dark room, head spinning and mouth dry. He tasted his own, metallic blood on it.

The light switch was near the bed and he turned it on, wincing when he realized his arm was still recovering from one of Thor's famous grapplings.

There was a note on the nightstand.

" _Take a shower. T."_

"Go fuck yourself." Loki muttered before getting up and taking off the battered armour, piece by piece. "Fuck you, Asgard, Midgard, mortals, your own offspring, your mortal and Odin above all. Fuck all of you."

The water was warm against him. He washed the blood and rubbed his body with the sponge until his skin was sore and irritated and the sponge was a useless piece of something he couldn't name.

The door was locked. His magic was still unreachable. The fighting with Thor had delayed his own healing process.

"Fuck Vanaheim and fuck their poisoned weapons." He added, just to be sure, and got dressed with clothes that were too big for him. He turned around and saw the bed.

It was a messy tangle of linens and mud and dirt. Before he could think about it, his hands were tossing them to the other side of the room.

Loki was sitting on the naked bed when the door opened and Bruce Banner stepped in carefully.

" Thor sent me. I brought you tea." He said, quickly eyeing the mess of sheets right besides the door.

"Tell Stark to get better ones." Loki pointed at the sheets with a sneer.

There was a small table and two chairs just in front of the bed, and Banner placed the mug there and sat, making himself comfortable without permission.

"So, earlier. Thor told you that the traitors were captured and the mission was successful and you kinda lost it. Also, he wanted to tell you that we know you killed one of them. You owe Fury an explanation about it. The guy was human. Anyways, Darcy is not...um….in critical condition right now. You can go and see her, if you want, but she will be in a real hospital tomorrow."

"I don't want to. I have better things to do with my time."

* * *

He went back to Asgard that same night, back to his "domiciliary prison", as Darcy would call it just to tease him.

In the morning, Eir appeared at his door.

Contrary to popular belief, Loki's room was not a well organized, "orderly" place. He didn't like to have his books in clean rows, they were better in piles according to his interests, and the maids knew better than to touch his things. They barely went to his room if it wasn't for dressing him, or at least that was before he started his sentence. Everything was apparently a chaos, but he knew exactly where to find what he needed and when he needed it.

He could pretend everything was perfect "the Asgardian way" with his magic. But Vanir's poisons were strong and his seidr still felt...odd.

He smiled when Eir eyed his room, pursing her lips.

Eir was one of the oldest Asgardians still alive. Her hair was white like the air of the winter, and she possessed a wisdom that could maker seem equally cold, but her brown eyes and kind words were warm, firm and understanding.

The first time he had seeked her had been to ask about Frigga. She had an oath that prevented her from lying, one that she had taken when she became the most important healer in the realm. But when he saw her, the courage failed him and instead she had asked the questions. And in the end she had offered him to talk and promised she would never tell anyone about their conversations. Just one hour each day.

He had accepted.

They had never talked about Frigga. Eir had tried to bring up the subject, but he always refused to say anything.

That morning, she asked the questions again. Eir talked with him for hours.

Later in the week, Odin ordered him to go and talk to Nicholas Fury.

When Fury was done scolding him like a child for killing a "possible source of invaluable information", Loki headed out the office in search of the coffee machine in the living room. He endured all of this only because Thanos was a greater threat. He didn't actually give a damn about Fury's organization.

"So, have you visited your nerdy friend?" Stark's voice called and Loki turned around.

"She is out of danger, isn't she?" Loki replied nonchalantly.

"She is now. She actually asked like crazy about you. She wanted to know if you were okay. Isn't that cute?" Loki pursed his lips while Stark showed a sly smirk.

"Did anyone tell her that I am unharmed?"

"Yes. I did. But if you could explain it in person, that would be ideal." Iron Man crossed his arms.

"Is that so? May I ask why?" Loki feigned disinterest.

"Well...aren't you his friend?"

"She is an ally, and a partner in missions."

Tony stared at him for a whole minute, his brown eyes boring into his green ones. Loki didn't shift, didn't even change his expression.

"Yeah, right." Stark turned around and made it to the door. "By the way, she's in Mount Sinai Hospital, the Neurosurgery one. Not too far. I'm gonna let Fury know you'll be there. He wanted to visit Darce too."

Loki scoffed and finally left.

* * *

Earth's hospitals were very different from Asgard's "healing rooms" (pretentious name if there was one).

For example, Asgard had actual rooms. Ample, well lit rooms. You could smell flowers and see the sky and you had a special nurse just for you, 24/7. Darcy had been there when Jane had the twins, and she was impressed.

Of course, Darcy had hit her head pretty bad and Odin didn't say a word similar to "bring her here to cure her". So, she was in a hospital. It smelled like a hospital: disinfectant, disease and just a generally ominous smell.

Yeah, she had her own room. But it had nothing of the majestic beauty of Asgard, it was certainly tiny, with the walls a light creamy color that she hated, and a small chair right by her bed, a little tv and a moody nurse who wouldn't talk about anything.

Her head hurt like a bitch, she got dizzy over nothing and the food...the food was utter blasphemy.

At least Stark was paying for it all and she didn't have to share the room with some other poor soul.

"I know that face, Darce. Stop thinking about the healing rooms up there."

Darcy sighed.

"This place sucks. Can I go already, Jane?"

"What are you, ten? Tell me, if I got you a chocolate, would you stop ranting about this hospital?"

Darcy mulled over the thought.

"Nope. But you still gotta get me chocolate. I'm sick and helpless, remember?"

Jane shook her head, a light smile pulling at her lips.

"Alright. When I come back we're gonna watch a movie."

"Perfect. Been waiting to see Inside Out for a long time."

As soon as her best friend left the room, Darcy stood up and walked cautiously to her coat, searching inside the pocket until she fished out a cigarette and her lighter.

She needed to smoke so freaking bad…

Yes. Eir had taught her a bunch of relaxation techniques, and her therapist on Earth had done the same. They were all really useful and had helped her a lot over the years.

Anyways, smoking...not that she did it too often, for everyone would have realized by now. In fact, she was pretty sure no one knew.

She had picked up the habit during the Civil War, while watching the news, drinking coffee and wondering why humans were so stupid. Why the ones that should be protecting the society were tearing it apart. Darcy stepped to the tiny little window -she still could see Stark Tower, so it wasn't that bad, and it was snowing- and put the cigarette between her lips, ready for her to light.

"Miss Lewis?"

Without thinking, Darcy tossed the cigarette and the lighter out the window and turned around a little too quickly, wincing in pain.

Loki was there, wearing a suit and his usual stern expression.

"What were you doing?"

Darcy's mouth opened a couple times but no sound came from her throat.

"I..um...enjoying winter time?" Loki didn't even need to scoff at her. Darcy gave in. "Okey, yeah, I was trying to smoke a cigarette before Jane went back here. I… it s not a very good thing to do, I mean smoking. She would rant about cancer and smell…"

"Why do you do it then?"

Darcy mulled over the thought.

"I… it's just just a habit, I guess. A bad one."

She shivered when when a sudden gust of wind entered through the window and, closing it, she went back to bed.

Loki noticed how unconsciously careful she was with her own movements. She wasn't completely healed, then. Her head was bandaged but he doubted that the linen had healing spells in the very tendrils, like in Asgard. He would have to ask Foster. Her brown locks were nowhere to be seen, probably under the bandages.

"Please, have a seat. Make yourself comfortable. Fury should should be here in no time. Just got a text. He's gonna scream and throw some fucks and damns. Jane will be here to watch it."

Loki sat down, trying not to show how weird the situation was.

"How have you been?" Darcy asked,smiling at him like she wasn't the one with with a head injury.

"I should ask that to you, Miss Lewis." He chuckled.

"Call me Darcy. You saved my life, I saved yours and we share books. Plus, you are seeing me in this horrible state and you know my secret. You can use my name."

"Very well… Darcy. How have you been?"

She shrugged.

"I've been better, but you know, I'm outta here tomorrow."

Though her words and smile was almost the same as usual, which could be attributed to her injures, somehow Loki knew Darcy was hiding something from him.

Jane chose that moment to burst in and stay talking without a glance around.

"You know what? I got you this chocolate that is not cheap, I had to press the guy selling it with my authority and Asgardian status and when I was heading back, it started snowing. A lady tripped and fell and I had to call an ambulance because, you know, it was a defenseless lady and I couldn't exactly call Heimdall for her. So yeah, you are going to eat this chocolate thinking about how you made me flash my 'space princess' card and be really grateful for it." Darcy scoffed.

"You flashed your space princess card for a piece of chocolate and you can't flash it for…" Darcy rolled her eyes and closed her mouth, conveniently remembering that Heimdall could hear everything and he was definitely going to hear her insulting Odin. "Nevermind. Gimme!"

She made grabby hands and Jane threw the chocolate at her, causing Darcy to wince again from the quick movement she had to do to catch it. It was worth it.

"Reflexes: check." Jane turned around, spotted Loki and shrieked.

"MOTHER OF GOD!"

"It is actually a horse with eight legs. Sleipnir. I saw it on Asgard's stables." Darcy added calmly and ripped the package of Toblerone with the look of a pirate finding a treasure. Loki glared at her.

"Good morning." He said shortly to Jane, who was still breathing quickly and had put a hand over her chest.

"Yeah, good morning…"

Jane and Loki didn't exactly like each other. Loki had saved her life a few years ago, but she was Thor's wife, and Jane had never really forgave him for New York, the Destroyer and the little "usurping Odin's throne to hide from Thanos" thing, which was in her right to do if she wanted. Darcy took it as calmly as she could. She was friends with both, and pay little attention to their antics.

"Janey, Loki, since I am a great, kind and generous friend, I will share this." She handed a piece of chocolate to each, and only Loki was ignorant enough as to stare at it suspiciously. "Eat, dude. There's nothing like this on Asgard."

"Indeed. This is only from Earth and Asgard could never, ever produce something with this amount of quality." Jane chirped in a fake English accent just to annoy him.

Loki raised an eyebrow.

"How would you know?" He asked with a sly sneer on his face. Jane furrowed her brow at him.

"I actually ran a test in there to see if…"

"It turns out you can't. So here's one thing you've never tasted before, mister I-know-everything-there-is-to-know-about-anything." Darcy interrupted Jane. As much as she didn't pay attention to their arguments, she didn't want to be present while Jane went on and on about some study on Asgardian dirt, and it was not like she could leave the room.

Loki stared at the tiny piece of chocolate and smelled it carefully. His lips opened and he nibbled onto the chocolate. After a few seconds, he searched Darcy's face with his eyes and gave an approving nod. Meanwhile, Jane had eaten her piece and was asking for another.

They were finishing with the chocolate between hums of pleasure and comments on the weather when the door opened and a nurse came in and saw the ripped, bright package on Darcy's lap.

"Young lady! You are not supposed to skip the hospital's diet! You've been through a very strong trauma and…"

"I wasn't eating. They were. I promise."

The nurse didn't buy it for a second.

"This could alter your blood test results!"

Darcy winced.

"Why do you need another blood test?"

The nurse shook her head.

"Just routine. I will have to let the lab know about this. Also, we are going to change your head's bandages."

"Not now. I am expecting someone important."

The nurse looked at her confused, while looking for the sterilized needle near Darcy's bed.

"Why not welcome your 'important' visit with a clean bandage?"

To Loki's utmost surprise, Darcy blushed. Red crept up her neck and cheeks and she crossed her arms, looking frustrated. Somewhere deep within his twisted mind, he approved of the movement. It certainly highlighted her assets.

"We..Well, because I don't want to have my bandages changed with my guests around me! It's...embarrassing! Change them in the afternoon, please?"

The nurse'd had enough. She stood up in her entire height -which wasn't much, at least in Loki's opinion- and stepped towards Darcy's bed with the needle in her hand.

"Listen carefully, young lady. You've had a very ugly concussion, and your injury needs daily caring. Also, you are supposed to eat only what we give to you. I have no idea what your job is" Jane was standing next to Loki and she hid a smirk behind her hand. "and who this important visit is, and I really don't have time enough to come back in the afternoon. We are very busy in this place. So, give me your arm and follow my instructions."

Darcy was red - Loki noted she was furious- but she extended her arm and tried to relax it. She had several little purple marks in that arm.

When the nurse had taken blood from her - Loki was most interested in this method, finding it completely primitive-, the worst part started.

She closed her eyes when the nurse started to unroll the bandages around her head. Her face expressed such humiliation that it was hard to watch, and Jane, who had been laughing a few minutes ago, was now staring outside with a hint of pity in her features. Loki didn't understand what was happening until the nurse took the entire bandage out of her.

Darcy's head had been shaved. Her long, carefully combed hair of the past was nothing but short fluff. Her face, full of strong features, looked weird without her thick waves to frame it. Loki stared at her in surprise, noticing that Jane gasped when she saw the injury in her friend's head: a long, angry line, still red and covered in stitches. Loki understood that the healers weren't able to see the affected place very well and that's why they had shaved her, bur Darcy's eyes were suspiciously red and she wasn't even glancing at them.

Muttering for herself the nurse finished her job without paying attention to the fury and hatred emanating like a powerful wave from her patient.

After she closed the door, Jane excused herself and left the room, probably to flash her "asgardian princess" card at the nurse and scold her for being such an insensitive bitch.

"Ahem…" Loki started, but Darcy turned around her head violently -wincing again- and raised a finger to him.

"You better not mock me about this, Loki. I'm not in the mood for jokes, not with this. You can mock me about my violet arm" she pointed at it, "my hospital clothes, this fucking place full of humans and even my general aspect, but not my hair. I will rip your balls off as soon as I can hold a knife again if you mention it. I will make Banner hulk the fuck out and wipe the floor with your guts. I fucking promise I will!"

He froze. Darcy Lewis was crying in front of him, her eyes full of fat tears and her lips pursed.

Loki opened his mouth to speak, but she continued before he could do it.

"I know I shouldn't be crying over the dead cells that grow around my head, but in case you haven't noticed, which I am sure you haven't because why would I tell you, my hair was.. my favourite thing in my head after my brain. It really was. I have seen Asgardian girls with worse hair than me, so please, I loved it even more for that. It's not easy to compete with Asgardian chicks. So if you are going to say I look like a bald fucking mess, yes, I do. Thank you. Move on with your life. It will grow again, eventually."

"I was going to say I can regrow it now." Mischief made his eyes shine like emeralds in the light. Her ashamed expression became one of astonishment and awe. He had to admit he relished the look of adoration that flooded her face.

"Can you?"

Loki's smile widened.

"Oh yes. But it has a price."

She grew suspicious.

"A price?"

"A small price." He clarified.

Darcy crossed her arms.

"Tell me the price and I'll tell you if I want your...mojo or whatever on my hair."

"You mean the hair you still don't have?"

She glared at him and threw him an empty plastic cup that he dodged easily.

"No jokes about this, fucker!"

"Fine!" Loki conceded.

There was a tense moment of silence.

"What's your price!" She almost yelled at him.

Loki was thinking about it.

"You have to answer one question." He finally said.

Darcy stared at him. Loki was perceptive, very perceptive. He could ask a lot of embarrassing questions and tease her for all eternity with it. He could ask her a question that would show her vulnerability, and she knew he knew what to ask.

She had tried not to think about it. She had tried to avoid it, but it was true. Maybe it was the adrenaline of the war. Maybe it was the lack of male friends -that was a lie, she was friends with the Avengers, she should have plenty of male company-, or maybe just her fucking luck with men.

It had started subtly enough. When she rolled her eyes at someone speaking bullshit, his gaze was invariably on her, like he understood her feelings. At first she had avoided his eyes on those occasions, because she felt like she was betraying the entire humanity allowing herself to feel complicity with a murderer and a liar. Then she just nodded solemnly in his direction, to finally give him a little knowing smirk. They had learned to communicate with each other mostly through signs and orders, but they still had time to banter when they went on missions. He expected her to do her job and he never interfered with something like "you are not doing it right, let me".

The way he wrung his hands when he wanted to be cool and collected. When he had started therapy. When he had accepted her friendship.

She liked him. She liked him very much, and there was no denying it.

Darcy did what she always did: joke and avoid answering right away.

"Dude, I have no secrets. I'm an open book. Do you want to know my favourite colour or something?"

He just smirked, waiting for her answer.

Darcy turned her head and stared through the window. Making a deal with Loki was… dangerous, to put it kindly. But her hair...having her hair back… it was vanity from her, and she knew it.

She sighed. And then she remembered one particular myth about Loki involving hair and Sif.

"Hey! If I am going to have my hair back, I want it back the same colour, length and healthy state than it was before my injury. No weird changes, no tricks. Also, you will change it before I answer the question."

Loki beamed.

"Is that a yes, miss Lewis?"

She crossed her arms.

"Yes, Loki. I will answer one question from you, only one, with the truth."

The way Loki smiled told her that she had stepped in a very dangerous mines field. The perspective made her feel afraid and excited at the same time. The possibility of outsmart the god of Mischief… she had to try.

"Shall I begin now?" He asked, wriggling his spidery fingers and making her laugh with a hint of fear.

Maybe it was not too late to go back.

"I…"

The door burst open and Jane chose that moment to get inside the hospital room with an enthusiastic beam and holding a blue flask with something glowing inside.

"I thought for a minute about your 'flipping the space princess card to strangers' and I did it! I flipped my space princess card inside the healing rooms in Asgard and it worked! It worked in Asgard! Can you believe it?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Darcy asked, a little flattered that for once in her life Jane had followed her advice. Loki was positively glaring at Jane's back but trying to mask it with his usual "calm" expression.

To Darcy's surprise, her confusion only fueled Jane's enthusiasm.

"I have in my hands the solution to your problem, Darcy Lewis!" Jane raised the vial and the liquid in it sparkled with the light coming from outside. Darcy stared at the flask, her eyes boring into it like it could speak and tell her, and slowly realization hit her and she sat straighter in her bed.

"Is that…?"

"It will regrow your hair, yes. It will be fast, painless and easy. You wanna keep it 'til you go home?" Jane's smile had no little amount of triumph in it. Darcy noticed with the corner of her eyes that Loki was making a great effort to not glare at everything..and failing miserably at his task.

A slow smirk took place in her lips.

"Yes, please, Jane. I will save it for tomorrow."

Jane put the flask in her night table and sat down in Darcy's bed, the smile still stuck to her face like glue on paper.

"From what I've heard, Fury is not going to scream too much at you. It is said that one of the prisoners confessed some names and Asgard is rather pleased with the results."

"By Asgard you mean Odin, my second boss and the one who wouldn't let me heal in his super fast healing rooms with all my hair in my head?" Darcy commented looking through the window.

Over the years, she had gone from a slight antipathy for Odin to full on repugnance. The guy seemed a little too careless when he cast out Thor to another planet in the first place, but then it just got worse. He insulted her planet, her friends and her life by explaining things to her as if she were stupid. Jane kinda hated him too. Loki...well, Loki was entirely another case.

"Yeah...he is also my father in law." Jane grimaced. Odin didn't lose a chance to call her insignificant when he thought Thor was not hearing him.

Darcy stared at the ceiling.

"How much can Heimdall see?" She asked after a moment.

"Everything." Jane and Loki answered in unison.

"Yeah but...can he also hear or.."

"He can hear too." Loki confirmed, unable to not throw a resentful look at the ceiling as well.

Darcy hesitated for a moment, but then sent it all to hell.

"Whatever. I want to talk about it and this is a free country -at least in theory. Odin is a douchebag. A complete, utter douchebag. Like, one of the biggest douchebags I have ever met, and I've met some. Hell, I've dated douchebags too. I've dated them for months."

Jane nodded solemnly and then both of them stared at Loki, who was trying to erase the smile out of his face.

"My, my, ladies, I never thought you held such a low opinion of the Allfather."

"That is because you were not supposed to hear it. Welcome to the secret club." Darcy winked.

"God knows sometimes even Thor seems to think the same but never says anything about it." Jane sighed.

"Well I wouldn't say anything to his face tho. Can you imagine this guy staring judgingly and you with his one eye and that damn powerful spear in hand? I won't die at a douchebag's hand, believe me." Darcy kept thinking out loud. "And considering he banished Thor the last time, I would keep my mouth shut in front of him...but that cannot stop me from thinking that he has too much power in his hands and very little criteria on how to use it."

"The same could be said about a lot of people here." Jane shrugged.

Darcy ignored how Loki shifted in his seat.

"Yeah, we have our fair share of assholes in our blue little planet."

They went quiet when a new nurse entered the room.

"Hello, miss Lewis. Let me please check your last analysis results and see if I have to make new ones?" The chirping little voice was sweet and calm, but Darcy's eyes assessed the girl carefully. The uniform she was wearing was an inch too tight, her makeup was perfectly done and her red hair was neatly tied up.

"Who are you?" Darcy asked dryly. War had made her very cautious about people.

"Oh, I am sorry, I am Claire Oliver and I am replacing nurse Smith because her shift ended."

Claire raised a sheet of paper from the end of her bed and checked the results carefully. Meanwhile, Jane went to stand next to Loki.

After a moment, the nurse finished and turned around to leave. Suddenly she stopped at the door and a very visible pink blush crept up her cheeks.

"Um...I'm sorry, mister, but are you Loki?" She asked almost too innocently.

Darcy and Jane gaped. Loki sat up straighter.

"Why?" His green eyes were boring into the honeyed ones of the nurse, and she unconsciously backed a step.

"I…well...you are very famous…Thor's brother, right? Asgard ambassador... There's a lot of...other nurses talking about your...person..."

She seemed to remember where she was and rushed out the door, leaving three confused people behind.

Darcy narrowed her eyes,surprising herself with the sharp pang of jealousy she felt and trying to crush the feeling in the depths of her chest.

Jane was the first to start laughing, until tears streamed down her cheeks. Loki stared at her dissapprovingly.

"Oh my god...I never thought.. Loki, you have your very own fangirls club!"

His face was blank.

"You have made the nurses a hormonal chaos around here." Darcy tried to sound cheerful.

"I...beg your pardon?" He stared at her suspiciously for a moment and she crushed another pang of jealousy, ignoring it in favour of smirking at him.

"Well, our friend Claire was obviously gathering courage to give you her number and play doctor! And you just scared her off with your most menacing glare!" Jane was wiping out tears from her face.

Loki caught up and started smiling himself.

"Miss Claire. Interesting name."

"You know what's more interesting? Watching trees grow." Darcy examined her nails. "Throwing myself out a window. Watching two thousand Netflix documentaries about rocks. Catching a cold. Almost everything is more interesting than hearing you talk about Claire."

"Jealous, Darcy?" Loki's voice was smooth as silk and just as slippery.

"Of course I am." She rolled her eyes. "You don't get to bang nurses while I am lying here bald as a newborn! All you attention must be focused in me, and yours as well Jane. No texting Thor unless one of the twins swallows a dagger or something."

"Okay, no fighting today! First of all, Darcy, you are not going to be bald forever and Loki will not -hopefully- 'bang' a nurse inside this place," Loki raised a suggestive eyebrow and Jane ignored it. "and secondly my children will not swallow daggers because I made Thor hide them out of their reach while I am not there." Jane checked her clock. "Fury is gonna be here in five minutes and I'm guessing he's going to want coffee so I am going to bring some right now. Behave!"

Jane left the room again.

Darcy and Loki stared at each other, the first with narrowed eyes and the second with a smug look in his face.

"Our deal is cancelled, buddy." She pointed at him. "Cancelled and thank God for it. You're a little shit!"

Loki laughed.

"Very well, Darcy. Cancelled. If I were you I would take care that nothing happened to that flask. I would hate for you to come back at me asking for a new deal."

"Why? You love deals." Darcy kept an eye on the flask. She knew Loki could 'accidentally' make it fall.

Loki stood up and walked to the edge of her bed. With a sly smirk on his lips, he lowered his face until it was at her level. Darcy fixed her eyes on his, determined to not let his proximity affect him. He smelled like leather and soap.

"Because, darling" the intensity of his voice surprised her and suddenly Darcy understood why people called him silvertongue. "A simple answer to a question wouldn't be the price to pay for your hair growing again."

Just for a split second, his eyes lowered to Darcy's full, semi-open lips. She was looking at him, entranced by his proximity, a sudden flash of intense desire shining on her blue orbes and burning in the center of her body. She knew he knew, and the thought made her lick her lips nervously. Loki was visibly affected by that gesture...and Darcy realized their relationship had changed yet again.

Fury went home that night with a strange feeling. He had found Lewis and Laufeyson immersed in a deep silence, the girl scrolling in her phone and he reading a book written in absolute gibberish. Fury had screamed at them for moments, inserting sarcastic remarks from time to time, and while the two of them had nodded and asked apologies and understood every single point he had, he wasn't sure if they had heard him at all.

"Motherfuckin' spies and their motherfuckin' ways of disobeying orders…" He muttered, and went to bed.


	5. Chapter 5

Ooooh _my God. I don't know what happened here. I royally screwed up, and I'm sorry. This chapter should be, um, in a kinda coherent_ english _. I don't have a Beta, so there are mistakes. Forgive me **.** I have zero excuses, the thing is, I divided the chapters differently in Ao3, because they keep getting really long. Um, I may have copied and pasted from Ao3 without revising the format or anything, really. Sorry. Sorry Sorry! *read that in Tom Hiddleston's voice*_

* * *

"Before this war is over,' [Walter] said - or something said through his lips - 'every man and woman and child (...) will feel it(...). You will weep tears of blood over it. The Piper has come - and he will pipe until every corner of the world has heard his awful and irresistible music. It will be years before the dance of death is over. And in those years millions of hearts will break."

 **― L.M. Montgomery, Rilla of Ingleside**

* * *

Six months had gone by since Darcy's last mission with Loki, and man, she had been busy. SHIELD now trusted her and gave her diplomatic missions within the planet and without Loki, whom had been on his own missions in Asgard. No one better than the God of Lies to know when a traitor was plotting. She and Loki had been exchanging letters via Jane. Letters. Goddamn twenty-first century, lots of technology at the tip of everyone's fingers, and they were exchanging handwritten letters and books. He didn't have a phone,and even when he could steal one, if Odin found it Loki was going back to a white cell in the depths of the dungeons. Besides, Loki thought that phones were primitive.

Handwritten letters were safer, and Loki valued too much the freedom he was earning to fuck it up for a phone.

Jane, the "messenger owl", was stubbornly living between Asgard and Earth, combining her duties as a princess and a mother with her duties as a scientist and pioneer on interdimensional travel and weaponry (at least on Earth).

With a lot of hard work and a lot of fights on her favor, plus a nasty wound in her leg, Darcy had earned some days off. The intensity and imminent danger of battle had reduced a lot after Thanos faced some important defeats in which, Darcy was proud to say, she and Loki had helped gathering intel. For Darcy, days off meant quality time with Jane, the closest thing to a sister she had. It was a shame that Darcy's idea of quality time was miles away from Jane's idea of the very same thing.

Currently, both the scientist and the ambassador/bodyguard/friend were struggling with some heavy equipment in the middle of the desert. More precisely in the middle of the Malargüe desert, in Argentina. They were sleeping in Jane's old motor home and every day the Pierre Auger Observatory (God forbid the mispronunciation of the name) sent someone with food and water. The astrophysicists in the Observatory wanted Jane building the potential Einstein Rosen bridge in there, because the power required to turn it on "attracted" a lot of the ultra-high-energy cosmic rays that the scientists were still investigating. Needless to say, Jane had signed more autographs in there than in her entire life. Needless to say, Darcy hadn't been able to even take a proper look at the motherfrikin' Andes, with Jane completely absorbed by the research. They had no cell phones, no tv, not even a radio. It was a forced retreat that made Darcy remember her old internship days, but with less beer craving at night.

1.200 square miles of absolutely nothing but nature and astrophysics.

The night had just fallen, and with it came a cooler breeze and the first stars in the sky. Darcy was pointing some weird looking machines upwards and Jane was lying under a big piece of equipment, poking it with a screwdriver, a flashlight attached to her head. The desert was a strange place to be, especially if you had been a long time surrounded by loud noises. Darcy's ears weren't used to the deep silence in the desert, and she perceived a lot more sounds, the ground crunching under her boots, Jane huffing under her homemade equipment, her own breathing...it was almost magical. Like a place outside the real world. It made her feel good, not like in the past when all she wanted was parties and graduation.

"So you are saying you don't have a special relationship with Loki?" Said Jane innocently, for the umpteenth time. She seemed to think that asking the same question over and over again in the most random circumstances was going to force "the truth" out of Darcy. She sighed.

"Stop it, Jane. I'm not changing my answer."

"Not that you ever gave me one." Came the muffled response from her friend.

"If you want something cheesy and heart melting you can go read fanfiction. God knows there are a lot about the Avengers. I could read you a couple of them where you and Thor get naughty and everything. And by naughty I mean..."

"I don't want a fanfiction answer", Jane interrupted. Darcy rolled her eyes and continued arranging stuff. "I want the truth."

Darcy finished with her task before answering.

"Look, you are my best friend, and the fact that I have been here with you for a week without any resemblance of social interaction or whatsoever proves it. There is literally nothing that I wouldn't tell you. I'm gonna say this once: nothing is happening between Loki and me. I am trying to focus on winning a war against a dude that cannot die, so you tell me, do I look like I have time to fall for an ex super villain?"

Jane crawled from under the machine -how the woman could not care about the dirt staining her favourite jacket was beyond Darcy- and came out the other side, standing up and thoroughly dusting off her clothes. Then she crossed her arms and stared at her friend with a pointed look.

"Darcy Lewis, for the past six months you and Loki have been using me. I am not a nosy person and you know it, but the letters are becoming fatter and fatter. I know he is up to something with you, I just know. He even talks to Thor now! Without stabbing, almost no yelling and just a little bit of bickering. What the hell?"

Darcy rolled her eyes.

"Oh my God Jane, listen to me: any changes Loki is making are not thanks to me. He goes to therapy for that, remember? Besides, what has Thor to do with this? I am not a miracle worker or a rehab center. We are friends. Even best friends, because I trust him with my life. Love? Nah, love is not that."

"Then what is it? What is love?" Jane was very invested in the topic, a sly expression on her face.

"I don't know, okay? Loki doesn't even like coffee! He lives in a monarchy! I'm sorry Jane but you know how I feel about monarchies. Loki loves monarchies. He actually tried to become king. Our letters are mostly about strategy, history..." And okay yeah, some gossip and actual personal information. Loki wasn't too sharing, and she had the same failure, but somehow they could read each other perfectly. But there was no way they could be more than friends.

Jane stared at her skeptically.

"Your argument is so freaking weak it scares me. You were in a debate club or something at University, I know because I read your CV at some point. Have you considered the thought that maybe you have this idea of love that is at least fifty percent wrong? Also, I don't protect my letters with a spell so no one can read them."

Darcy gaped for a moment, eyes widening. She didn't even knew Loki did that with his letters.

"W...we all know that he has trust issues. Still. My point stands. Love is not like what we have."

"Since you still are in denial, I will not ask you anymore. But when I finally see you two together, I'm gonna say I told you so, and I'm gonna enjoy it."

"What, are you happy now with the idea of us together? Since when you started liking Loki?"

Jane laughed a little.

"Since he saved your ass countless times, and let you do your thing without controlling or manipulating you like I thought he would try to do. Don't get me wrong, I still think he's crazy, really crazy, but now I don't think he's batshit crazy anymore."

Darcy tried to reply to that, but suddenly the air shimmered for a moment and Loki stumbled forward, accidentally dropping some of the equipment. Darcy felt her heart sink, and kneeled beside him. His breathing was labored, and he groaned quietly when she spoke.

"Loki? What the hell is happening!"

Her brain was going into major freak out mode. Why had she taken those days off again? Oh, right, her leg still healing...so she had chosen the only freaking place on Earth with no way of communicating with the rest of the world. Fuck. Fuck.

"Thanos…" He coughed. "Thanos regrouped...and attacked Asgard…"

Beside her, Jane gasped.

"The kids…" She whispered, and had to brace herself against the device she had been fixing minutes ago.

Seeing Jane like that triggered something in Darcy, something deep inside her that only came out when one of her dearest friends was in immediate danger and she was present: her stress died and was replaced by certain detachment, something that allowed her to think before acting.

"Can you teleport us there?" She asked, and automatically helping Loki to sit down, her eyes calculating, a frown in her forehead.

"Not the two of you at the same time. The twins are safe, but they are still inside the castle and the place is not secure enough for soldiers that are looking specifically people with royal blood. You have to hide them in our refuge in Asgard, Darcy. That is the only place Thanos' soldiers cannot freely attack, because nobody knows about it. Go to our refuge in Asgard and hide them there."

The idea of taking them to the refuge had crossed Darcy's mind, so she nodded.

"Alright, then take us to Asgard. Take Jane first, leave her in the palace with the kids and then I'll keep them safe."

Loki nodded and put a hand in her shoulder, helping himself up and then thrusting his hand to help her up. When she did, he didn't let go and instead looked at her right into the eye.

"You will be careful." He stated, dominant as usual. His hand was firm and cold against her skin. Darcy nodded again, reassuring him.

"I will. Now, go."

Loki rolled his eyes and promptly disappeared with Jane.

As soon as he was gone, Darcy went to the van and packed stuff in her battlepack: her fighting-gear and clothes, bullets, throwing knives, her favourite firearmes, some food, her cellphone and the black cloak she had stolen from Asgard. She heard Loki calling her outside and hesitated for a second before grabbing Dorothy as well. It was too big for running around with it, but hopefully that would give them time in case they were under attack.

Her leg wouldn't let her run to Loki, and he frowned when she walked to him.

"What happened?" He asked sharply, and Darcy shrugged.

"A dude tried to stab me in a solo mission and got my leg. It is not that bad, but it needed some stitches. This is why I'm here. SHIELD kinda forced me to come here and stay away from action."

Loki rolled his eyes and took something out of his pocket.

" Uncover the wound." He ordered.

There was a moment of silence, not even broken by crickets like she expected.

"Dude." Darcy said, and there was no answer. "What the hell?"

"You intend to go into battle with a wound in your leg that puts you in even more danger?"

He was right. She was in pain, and as much as she had been trying to avoid acknowledging it, the wound was pretty bad and the stitches one too many.

"Just…" She gestured in embarrassment and pulled down her pants, uncovering the sewn gash on her right thigh.

He got to his knees and smirked at her from below. A full dirty smirk that she knew he was doing on purpose, just to play with her. It did nameless things to her brain and body. He had done similar stuff in his letters, and Darcy had a hard time debating with herself if she liked those moments or not. She hadn't come to a conclusion. Yet. She thought.

"Oh, shut the hell up dude!" Darcy blushed furiously and he crushed a healing stone between his fingers. Still smirking, he smeared the dust in her wound with soft strokes and Darcy watched, amazed, as the gash closed definitely and the stitched disappeared. Once it was over, she buttoned up the jeans without looking at him.

"Ready to go, c'mon." She flunged the heavy bag over her shoulder, but before she could do anything he took her hands in his. When he spoke, his voice carried the weight of knowledge and uncertainty at the future.

"Darcy, this is the final battle. This is the last of Thanos. His last soldiers, last weaponry, everything. He has attacked with the last -and best- of his forces, and he will not stop until the last of his army is dead at his feet. Be careful."

"Oh my God, Loki, I am always careful." He threw a pointed look at her leg and she rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna take good care of my best friend and her children by leaving them in a cave with weaponry and food, after I get changed in better clothes. What are you gonna do about Thanos?" She asked worriedly. Loki wasn't completely recovered from Thanos' brainwashing, and more than once a week he woke up with a scream ragging his throat. Not that he ever told her that, but she had her ways of knowing (meaning Thor). But at her words, Loki smiled slowly, until all his perfectly white teeth were exposed.

"When I find him, he will find out." He took her hands in his and squeezed.

Darcy tried to find fear of him inside her, but knew she wouldn't. She wanted Thanos to suffer for every single life he had taken, and there was nothing Loki could do she would think undeserved.

"Succeed, Smartypants. And don't take too long." She said simply, and could see Loki's lips quirking up before disappearing.

When Loki told them that Asgard was under attack, he meant it. The smoke wouldn't let her see clearly around her, and when she inhaled an acrid smell made her eyes tear up. People were screaming and running everywhere, blind to their surroundings and focused only on escaping the chaos.

"I am going to make us invisible. That means you won't be able to see yourself and your weaponry. Can you still fight?"

Darcy rolled her eyes. Her stomach knotted at the sight of the battle, more than usual. This time, there was no room for mercy, or anything really. And she asked herself, in the back of her mind, at which point in her life she had grown used to fight and kill other people.

"Yes. Do it."

Loki grabbed one of her hands and put the other over her head for a moment, frowning in concentration. Darcy gripped the straps of her backpack as tightly as she could, eyes closed, feeling the familiar texture of it. Loki's hand was large and cold, his fingertips barely grazing her hair. They were close, and she could faintly smell the leather of his armour over the smoke. It kept her focused.

"Done." He whispered, and Darcy looked up to him to see only air. She could feel him closer, but suddenly he started running towards the castle and she swore while trying to keep up.

There were barely thirty feet away when she heard an explosion going off and the force of the blast threw her to the ground. Loki didn't let go of her and pulled her up.

"You recovered your powers?" She asked, suddenly remembering he wasn't supposed to be able to do something like making them invisible.

"Odin's magic is depleted, and he is using the surplus normally dedicated to keep my most powerful magic away in the fight against Thanos."

"A yes would have been enough, ya know?" She quipped, and they reached the palace.

Inside, the ruin was even worse. Her eyes got caught in the dress of a court maid, tore in half, blood-stained and abandoned there, its owner absent. For some reason, that image stayed with her.

Loki guided her through narrow hallways, dimly lit and covered in dust,but they were not crossing enemies. Somehow, the eerie silence around her was even more oppressive than the commotion of the battle.

They reached a black door that had no signs and Loki stopped and let go of her hand, murmuring something that made her visible one more time. He raised his arms, said a few words and the door opened, revealing Jane, Thyra and Haldor. Jane was holding a small knife, one that she lowered as soon as she saw Loki and Darcy.

"Thank God…" Jane said, and embraced her friend.

"You're welcome." Answered Loki, and Darcy laughed briefly.

Another explosion sounded far away, and the kids braced each other, eyes light up with fury and fear.

"I cannot teleport with all of you at the same time. The distance is too much for my powers right now." Loki stated.

Darcy knew Jane wouldn't accept being separated from her children, not even for two minutes, but then an idea hit her head with the force of a moving train.

"Could you...put a spell on objects that could teleport us to the safe place?" She suggested, and looked at Loki.

He narrowed his eyes at her, and then openly smiled, his green eyes shining with enthusiasm.

"I never thought about it, but actually yes. It shouldn't bee too depleting, and you can touch the things at the same time and arrive safely to the refuge…Miss Darcy, you are quite the intelligent mortal." He finished, his smile now mischievous. Darcy felt something squirming in delight inside her and shook her head.

"I got the idea from Harry Potter, so go and compliment J.K Rowling."

"Here, have the knife" Jane said, handing it to him. A faint green light enveloped the knife and then Loki placed it on the ground. He did the same with Thyra's necklace and Haldor's replica of Mjolnir. When the three of them were settled, Jane took a step forward and Loki instructed them.

"The three of you will teleport on your own, and I'll teleport with Miss Darcy. You will land in the area surrounding the refuge. I have placed magical wards in a twenty feet radio, so do not go further. Darcy is the only one who can trespass safely and the wards will know if she's in danger with you. Now, touch your teleporters at the same time, and make sure to hide until she arrives."

The three of them nodded, and in a moment they were gone. Darcy was about to grab Loki's hands when he stopped her.

"I have to come back and fight. Thor and the Avengers are out there, and also Thanos. You however, will stay with Jane and her children."

Darcy clenched her fists.

"So now you're ordering me around and thinking you're gonna fight without me?" She asked through gritted teeth.

"You have to stay with the royal fa-

"They are going to be safe . You're making this shit up because you think I am-

"What?" He snapped. "Mortal? You are mortal. You are a fragile human, and this is not a fight for the likes of you."

Darcy slapped him, surprising Loki and herself with the force of her hand.

"No fight in these years has been remotely similar to the ones 'the likes of me' has had! And Thanos has destroyed millions of lives around the galaxy. Don't fucking tell me what to do, Loki!"

"You can't go!" He yelled.

"Why the fuck do you think-

" I won't lose you!" He interrupted, face inches away from hers, his breathing ragged. "I won't loose my…" he hesitated, and Darcy felt her heart fluttering. "My best friend. I can't, and I won't." He finished.

Disappointment sat deep in her chest, and Darcy took a step back, suddenly feeling him too close, and herself too exposed. She hadn't realized…

It took but a moment for him to grab her hand and appear at the forest. That area seemed untouched by the battle, and Darcy knew it had something to do with Loki's abilities.

" What if I lose you?" She said, and Loki avoided her eyes. There was an uncomfortable moment, and then she went on. "If you don't come back in two hours, I am going to go out and look for you. Give me something to teleport back to the entrance of the castle. Promise me on your life that it will work." She said simply, her voice expressionless.

"Or what?" He said, and Darcy raised her chin.

"You know it is the right thing to do. I'll stay with Jane, but I won't miss the final battle. I have to be there, and you know it. It is my choice to do this and you have to respect it. It'll be night in two hours, and then I'll be safer. I'll look for you."

Loki stared intently at her, and somehow Darcy knew she had won that argument. He cleared his throat and a necklace appeared in his hands. It was silver thread, with a strange pendant of some kind of circle. It glowed green for a moment and then Loki handed it to her.

"It is set. I promise on my life."

"What's with the pendant? I've never seen something like that."

For a moment, he just stared at her.

"It is an aegishjalmur. It will protect you from...danger."

She looked at it closely and discovered that the silver thread was actually a tiny snake, beautifully made and with two minuscule rubies for eyes. Despite herself, her feelings and the situation, Darcy giggled. Maybe that was the power Loki had over her. Bring to light some dark humour in herself in most situations.

"Couldn't you get any more cliché? A snake?"

Loki smirked.

"Well, I have a reputation to maintain. Take care of Jane and my nephews."

And with that, he was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

Remember that you can follow me in Ao3 now, there are more stories there. I will not update here anymore. Also, if you want, you can follow me on Tumblr! EmStarr-tasertricks. I accept suggestions of all kinds, and if you want to prompt me, I'll see what I can do.

* * *

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.  
Heraclitus

Darcy closed her eyes for a moment, breathing deeply through her nose. The final battle and she had to stay there, doing literally nothing. She had been fighting for a long time just for...Loki to get all macho. But he had a point.  
Jane needed her. Her best friend through the years and mother of two beautiful children was there, waiting for her to take them to the refuge and defend them from danger. After all, they were royalty, and just because of that they were in more danger than everybody else. The twins were the promise of Thor's legacy, of Asgard's bright, golden glory, and there were many trying to end them before they could actually rule.  
Sighing, she walked towards the entrance of the cave, where Jane, Thyra, and Haldor were waiting for her.  
The passage Loki had discovered was damp, cold and awful in every way Darcy could possibly think. It smelled like wet, thick and putrid dirt and it was clearly made for dwarves and not full grown human beings with things to carry around. Jane and she were almost on her knees, but the kids were shorter and therefore more comfortable in the narrow, dimly lit space.  
The tunnel soon became wider, and eventually opened to a small space that had two sleeping bags -one of them clearly Asgardian- cans and boxes of food, bottles of water and some oil lamps. Darcy remembered she'd had to bite her tongue -literally- to avoid confrontation when he sneered at her perfectly functional fluorescent lights in favor of his golden Asgardian lamps...that needed oil. It was actually funny to see Loki not admitting that his lamps were not the best that could happen to them.  
There she was, going back to...those memories that made her feel weird.  
Well, what was she thinking? That because they wrote letters to each other they had a special, like, connection or something? Some kind of bond? For God's sake, she wasn't fifteen! Besides, the world was ending. She had more important things to do.

Soon enough, Jane had managed to put the twins into the sleeping bags and they were whispering to each other in Asgardian, or ask Thor would call it, the Nordic Tongue. Loki had made sure that no one could hear them from the outside, so Darcy was relieved. She wasn't sure about the kids being able to shut up in a situation like that.  
"Thank you, Darcy," Jane said, her words quiet and sad. She was sitting on the floor, near the entrance, her skinny arms bracing her knees and her chin resting on them. She looked just like any other woman forced to stay away during a war: tired, anxious, and afraid. Darcy was positive she looked the same, although a little more trained than her friend.  
"You are welcome. It was nothing, really."  
"It wasn't nothing." Jane countered, still not looking at Darcy.  
"It was. You are my friend. And we fight for kids like yours, so they can grow up free."  
Jane laughed weakly.  
"I don't think they will easily forget this day. The entire universe is going to change forever, and there's nothing we can do about it. Cultures will be lost, traditions will be forgotten. We'll have to rebuild everything and it's not going to be the same."  
Darcy sighed, sitting down next to her. She rested her head against the stone and put an arm around Jane's shoulders.  
"I know. But...Jane, nothing can ever stay the same. It's like Heraclitus said...uh, that quote about the river, that you change and the river changes and there's nothing we can do about it?"  
Jane was frowning and her eyes were full of tears, but she managed a small smile.  
"Sometimes I feel like…" Jane sniffed. "Like this is my fault, ya know? Like, if I hadn't been obsessed with...Einstein-Rosen bridges and all that….stuff...if I hadn't been so eager to prove myself in the science field, to prove to all those misogynistic assholes that I was right…"  
Darcy frowned, and when she spoke, her words were firm.  
"No, Jane. Stop right there. Listen to me. You wanting to discover amazing things has nothing to do with all the shit that came after. I'd say you helped because you made us stronger. Your activity did not cause the world to enter this stupid war. Thanos did that, all by himself, because he is fucking crazy and for some reason needs to destroy the universe. He doesn't have a smither of kindness or good in him, and we all know it. You just wanted to be a scientist and that is fine, it's more than fine actually. Thor falling from the sky in New Mexico? It would have happened all the same. Loki in his batshit state? It would have happened too. So, if you hadn't tried to follow your dreams, you would be a frustrated young woman...dealing with the end of the world all the same. Don't speak bullshit, you have three degrees and two kids, and you are a princess. You are one of the most intelligent human beings I have ever met, you know your value."  
"But, Darcy, you...what about your dreams? You abandoned them." Her friend asked, already crying. Darcy grinned to herself. She often was asked the same question.  
"Yeah. I kinda had some goals -including becomin' the president of the US- but instead, I ended up working as an intergalactic spy. That's how things went at the end. It was necessary, and besides, I got to travel the universe and know a lot of interesting beings, so I can't really complain."  
Jane shot her an incredulous look.  
"You didn't want to fight, Darcy." She stated.  
Darcy mulled over the thought. "I know. It's actually a little funny when you think about it, ya know? That someone like me, all full of...ideas about the world and peace and ecology and everything would end up having to kill another being just because we are supposed to be enemies. It took me some time to...assimilate it, I guess. A long time, actually. It is to kill or to be killed. And, to me, it was part of the life I ended up choosing. I couldn't just...ignore it. You were already deeply involved in the conflict, and I felt ...useless. So I trained. I for sure wasn't thinking about all the death that followed, but it is part of me now. I accepted it as the consequences of my choices, and if I had to make it all over again, I would. I would always choose to fight. And in the process, I met space people! And Loki."  
Listening to her final words, Jane took a deep breath, like someone getting ready to jump into the water. Darcy knew what was coming.  
"So, Loki…"  
There was a moment of silence in which Darcy didn't know if she wanted to cry or to laugh. Perhaps it was worth to talk about it and distract Jane. Darcy knew that she was only in the cave because she loved her kids more than anything in the world, but Jane actually had no self-preservation, and if she wasn't distracted she could go outside and try battle. And boy, she wasn't ready for it. So the ex-intern, actual best friend of Jane Foster decided to just throw her caution to the wind and talk about feelings.  
"He called me his best friend, a while ago. I felt so fucking disappointed, and dude, I hate to even think about it. All my defenses are going up like crazy. I mean...I've made poor life choices before, but this is just over the top."  
"I think Loki is not that bad. Not anymore." Darcy groaned.  
"Oh Jane I know, but you know he's really complicated to be with. I mean, we get along really well and have tons of fun and we are actually a great team, and he never tries to unnecessarily protect me..except for today. But he's an alien."  
"Thor's an alien too." Jane pointed out. "And we had to work a lot in our relationship. Yes, it is not easy to...get used to each other's time, and spaces, and traditions...but you manage. It wasn't overly hard either, just a little more strange. I mean, it wasn't a morning talk about how the love of your life leaves the toothpaste cap open, but...we managed. And we barely knew each other. You and Loki do. You've been working together for a long time, you've been there a lot for him."  
"Yeah, but...he's immortal."  
"You're making this stuff up because you're panicked about committing yourself to someone."  
"Well, yeah? He's Loki! We're at war!"  
Jane shrugged, but when she was about to speak, Thyra started tossing and turning in her sleep and she stood up and went to attend her daughter.  
"I'm gonna go watch the entrance of the cave," Darcy announced, and the answer was a single nod of Jane's head.  
Almost crawling in order to get out of the refuge, trying to be as silent as possible, Darcy recognized to herself that she was scared to face her own feelings. So much for being a fighter and a Gryffindor.  
Once she reached the entrance of the cavern, she just sat there, in the absolute darkness, listening with all her might. If someone broke the perimeter of the protective spell Darcy would know, but nonetheless, the darkness made her overly alert of her surroundings.  
Her senses stretched out like tensioned ropes, almost trembling, picking out each and every wet drop hitting the floor, the humid air, the slightest of breezes from the outside, the coldness of her Glock, attached safely to her side.  
When she checked her clock, an entire hour had passed, and it was about time for her to step out the cave and find Loki. She had wrapped her mind around the possibility of dying in battle a long time ago, and she wasn't scared of it. Funny that she was more frightened by the possibility of love than death.  
Still silent as a mouse, she put on her black hood, withdrew the safety catch on her pistol and started walking. Jane already knew Darcy wasn't going to come back once she left her, and they had sworn to each other not to interfere in battle decisions. They respected each other too much to think they were going to be unnecessarily risky. Like when Jane decided to have her babies even when everyone on Earth told her she was going to give up her career.  
Darcy had never even thought about having children, and she was almost thirty. Would she be a good mother? What kind of mother? Was she even allowed to have children?  
She could smell the smoke even before seeing the light of the exterior, and her heart started beating faster. She took a black oxygen mask that covered her mouth and nose and that she had bought in Vanaheim years ago when the war had barely begun. She had learned the bad way that smoke could suffocate you really fast. Crawling and trying not to accidentally shoot herself in the leg, she approached the entrance of the cave.  
Darcy could hear nothing outside, not even the sound of the trees being moved by the breeze.  
That, itself, was far scarier than the loud, bloody sound of battle.  
When she finally got to see the exterior, her knees gave out under her.  
The cave had been in the middle of the most enchanted, oldest forest of Asgard: Skog. Its millenary trees had provided food and refuge to many peasants once the war caused a shortage of food in the planet. It was almost a sacred place because Asgardians loved nature and worshiped no other gods.  
Before Darcy's horrified blue eyes stretched out a black wasteland.


	7. Chapter 7

"Nobody whom this war has touched will ever be happy again in quite the same way. But it will be a better happiness, I think, little sister - a happiness we've earned."

― L.M Montgomery, Rilla of Ingleside

* * *

Since she was little, Darcy had always thought that she was strong. Not stronger than other people, just strong enough to endure more than it was usual for kids. Her mother used to say that she was never a wayward girl, and she had never caused too much trouble growing up. She adapted to stuff rather easily, and though sometimes she missed the choices she couldn't make, she did not regret her life.

Yet, her eyes seemed to be unable to focus on the destruction in front of her. She could only see fragments: burned clothing. Scattered food. Broken weapons, both Asgardian and from Thanos army. Her brain could not register properly the entire view: the entire city was in ruins. Half of the palace had collapsed to the ground. The debris was all around it, still shining gold. The magnificence it once held was gone, forever. She tried not to see the Asgardian corpses trapped under the building, failing miserably.

Then her eyes fixated on a tiny Mjolnir, clearly made for a child. It was just there, the handle broken in two. She could still see the runes in the burned hammer, and it broke her heart.

There was no one around, not a soldier, not a maiden, no one. Nothing but the dead bodies. And the silence.

Darcy took off her mask when nausea invaded her throat, and the smell of blood, war and burned meat made her gag. That hadn't happened since years ago when she was twenty-five and had recently started to defend herself from the enemies. Now, she was twenty-nine. An experienced killer, a spy. Sometimes, a friend. But mostly a soldier.

With that thought, Darcy's senses came back. She put the mask on again, breathed deeply and focused on her mission: she had to find Loki and Thor, no matter the cost. She had to know that they were alive.

Her senses alert, Darcy surrounded the debris and entered the palace. She passed several rooms, and in all of them, there was a trace of the war: cracked walls, broken hangings, even the mark of a bloody hand on the floor. But not a single person whom she could ask about Loki or Thor.

Cold fury froze her veins when she understood that the same was being done to Earth and many other planets around the Universe. And then she wanted to find an enemy, to find it and kill it in order to relax a bit the grip on her weapon.

For that, it didn't take long.

It was a Vanir woman, covered in dirt and staring right at the ground, where a body was lying, inert. She held a sword in her hand. Her quiver was empty and her bow broken in two.

The body at her feet had golden armor, and in a shocking moment of realization, Darcy realized it was Odin. His blue eyes were empty of life, and blood was still oozing from his mouth. Faintly, she could hear ravens squawking.

The Vanir hadn't heard her coming, but Darcy didn't want to kill someone treacherously, so she spoke.

"Proud of your victim?" Her voice was every inch as cold as her veins. The Vanir girl turned around quickly, her sword thrust forward. Yeah, Darcy could fight someone with a sword.

"He was an oppressor and an old man."

The girl had intelligent black eyes, but completely devoid of feelings except for apprehension at this sudden enemy. Darcy supposed she wasn't used to fighting with swords and preferred poisoned arrows.

"Because Thanos is much better than him." Darcy allowed herself to mock the girl.

"Our forces will end the Odinson brothers, Thor and the Dark Prince. But we are only going to kill Thor. Thanos wants the other one for himself, human." The woman sneered at her mixed battle attire with disdain, like most aliens tended to do when they saw an Earthling.

They had been getting closer to each other, their steps light and careful.

Darcy smiled. It was always better when they thought a human couldn't be as strong as them. She had trained with Loki, and the only reason why she hadn't killed that girl from behind was because she was also friends with Thor and Thor had always been proud of the battle code. Not Loki, of course, but she liked to think that the code was something good. Honorable.

"I imagine he does. Been looking for him a long time. Loki escaped once, so he must be very angry. Of course, the..Dark prince, as you call it, is also looking for Thanos. But the thing here is that you killed Odin. And that can't go unpunished. Of course, you can choose: it could be Thor. A powerful enemy, almost impossible to beat. It could be Loki, but I don't think he'll be quick to kill you. I bet he would have you tortured first. Or it could be me." Darcy said and allowed a hypocrite smile in her lips.

The girl didn't answer, and her black eyes assessed her carefully. Darcy knew what she was seeing. A girl with human battle attire, an oxygen mask and a black hood that put her eyes in shadows. Also, Earthly weapons.

When the Vanir girl smiled, Darcy knew she was being underestimated.

Then, the girl jumped forward.

Darcy let all her cold fury consume her, and everything around her faded.

Fifteen minutes later, she found herself on the ground above the girl. Blinking rapidly, she realized what she had done.

The Vanir girl was lying on the ground, her black eyes lifeless and fixated on her with an expression of amazement and horror, her mouth agape and her teeth covered in her own blood. Darcy's knife was right next to her neck, and dark blood oozed from a deep wound there. When Darcy ran her hand across her forehead, she realized she was covered in the girl's blood, and she confirmed it when she saw her chest.

The fact did not disturb her like sometimes did, and she was able to fully stand on her feet and put the oxygen mask back on. She had taken it off when the fight became hand to hand. She also noted a wound in her left arm. It was deep and it was bleeding, but she had nothing to cure it and she could only manage to tie some fabric to stop the hemorrhage. There was nothing she could do to disinfect the wound.

Darcy walked silently until she reached the other side of the palace and found the back gardens, the flash of a memory in her mind. Fireworks. Those were Frigga's gardens. They were also destroyed, but there was a stream nearby and she washed her face in it. She had to keep walking and find Loki and know what had happened with Thanos and the end of the world. He couldn't be...dead. She knew he couldn't die. If he and Thor were dead, then sure as fuck she was dead. And Jane as well. And the kids.

Darcy walked for another hour, barely aware of the bodies strewn across what once had been a beautiful, peaceful garden. The place where she had honored her dead family.

She continued going forward until the smoke was so dense she could barely see in front of her. She knew the sun was rising because there was more light, but she could not see ahead, and her feet kept bumping into body parts. She had barely any strength left. Unable to continue, she fell on her knees and closed her eyes. At least if she could see nothing the enemies would not see her. Besides, everything was silent.

And then she heard it. Steps. She raised her eyes and saw a glimpse of red in the smoke. Her breathing became labored and she stood up, uncertain but alert. She had some bullets left and her knife. She would put up a fight, however pathetic it would be. But then her eyes could finally identify the people in front of her.

Loki walking beside Thor, both of them silent and with the shadow of tiredness around them.

When his green eyes found her, Darcy gasped and tried not to fall to the ground again.

She barely perceived the moment where Loki collapsed against her and his arms squeezed her against his chest. Her legs gave out, but he held her still.

"We beat Thanos. We made it, Darcy, we made it." He kept whispering in her ear, and his words dripped relief. Darcy blinked.

"Odin is dead." She said suddenly, not wanting to look at Thor while she said it. Loki stiffened.

"Thor?" He asked, for once his voice barely audible.

The sound of thunder echoed in the sky, and Darcy finally disentangled herself from Loki and stood on her own feet. Thor was on the floor on one knee, the right hand touching the left side of his chest, over his heart.

"May the memory of Odin Borson live forever." He said. Then he stood up and Darcy saw there was nothing left from the slightly immature, playful Thor she had met in New Mexico all those years ago. He truly looked like the God of Thunder now, and she inclined her head to the new King of Asgard.

"You are free now, brother," said Thor detachedly. "If you wish to remain here as the Prince and Ambassador of Asgard, you are welcome. if you want to leave the realm, I shall provide the means for it as well. Odin's punishment has lifted, and you may proceed as you please."

There was a moment of silence in which Loki just stared at his brother, something new in his eyes. They seemed greener than ever, and Darcy realized it was because his magic was entirely his again. He too had changed.

"How did Odin die?" He asked suddenly, looking at Darcy.

"A Vanir woman did it. I found her right after she...killed him."

Loki took in her blood-covered clothes, the bleeding wound in her arm, her dazed, sort of absent look and nodded once.

Thor closed his eyes and extended his hands. Moments later, the sky darkened and a heavy rain started to fall. Loki lifted the fog around them.

Darcy could never clearly remember the moments that followed. Asgardian people appeared out of nowhere, most of them terrified, and Loki went with Darcy to the cave and found Jane sitting between her children, tears streaming down her face, a knife in her hands.

"We won," Darcy stated, and Jane threw her arms around her with so much force she knocked Darcy to the ground.

"I knew it. I knew it," she repeated many times. Darcy stood up and embraced her friend one more time, ignoring the growing pain in her injured arm. Then she turned around and grabbed Loki's hand.

"I...want to go home." She said before passing out.


	8. Chapter 8

Welp, last chapter. Let me know what you think! Hope this has been enjoyable. I know my English is not the best, mainly because I'm not a native speaker, but I'm trying to get better at it.

* * *

 _This moment is your life._

 _Omar Khayyam_

* * *

"Thank you for bringing me here, Loki" Darcy could barely stand on her own two feet, and Loki wasn't in better shape.

Malargüe hadn't been touched by war. The desert extended in front of them for thousands of miles, untouched. Untainted. The sun was up, the trailer was there, Jane's equipment was shining under the light...it was almost surreal.

"It was nothing", he dismissed her words.

Darcy didn't answer. Her hands were trembling. She needed something to do, fast.

"Okay, um... do you have to come back right now?" she asked, her voice unsure.

"The families in Asgard are reuniting. I imagine Thor will arrange funerals for the dead in a few hours. Meanwhile, I have nothing to do." He stated without looking into her eyes.

Darcy examined him carefully. His hair was disheveled and dirty, his armor dented, and he had blood in his hands.

"Let's go. We'll get cleaned up. It's a very small place to be in, but...I can't go to a city right now. I need a few hours." Loki nodded, and they both went into the trailer.

Thanks to Darcy, things were in order. The bed was made, the kitchen was clean and there was food in the refrigerator.

"You can shower first", she offered with a tired smile. "I'll eat something. I have no clothes for you..."

"Don't worry, Darcy. I have clothes in my pocket dimension, and healing stones as well. I think you will need one for that wound." Loki pointed at her arm.

She agreed and turned around to open the fridge. There were some rice, cooked hamburgers, and fried potatoes. Not much, but there was also coffee, and she needed coffee.

Her injury was starting to hurt really bad, and her brain wasn't entirely there yet. The shower started to run and she sat down and ate the food without even heating it in the microwave.

Five minutes later, the shower stopped and Loki came out. His hair was now wet, shiny and slightly curly.

"I always suspected that under those ignominious amounts of hair gel you had curls," Darcy observed.

He smiled and opened the fridge, finding food and helping himself to it. He had learned that from all the years traveling from Earth to Asgard. He had learned many things, actually, but the biggest changes were noticeable in the way he moved. He had stopped being an arrogant prick, as Thor, the other arrogant prick, liked to say. Actually, their time on Earth had changed them both to be more tolerable, merciful and intelligent in different ways. She just hoped Asgard would be prepared for that change.

"Go shower, and when you come back I'll heal that arm." Loki started eating, and Darcy grabbed clothes from the drawer and went into the bathroom. When she closed the door, the space seemed too little, but she tried to breathe deeply. The humidity in the air made her cough.

She stripped off her battle attire. Underneath it, there were bruises, tender places and little cuts that did not bleed.

The hot water made her knees buckle and her skin sore, but it did wonders for her mind.

It seemed like a really long time in that other world, warm, small and comfortable that was the bathroom. In reality, it was only fifteen minutes, and she walked out feeling a bit better. Loki was sitting on the couch, and she sat down next to him. Crushing a healing stone between his fingers, Loki cured her arm.

Then, the trembling started.

Her entire body was shaking uncontrollably, her teeth chattering and her hands unable to grab the cup of coffee Loki had made her.

"I...cannot stop shaking," she said in horror. "I just..."

Loki embraced her and started caressing her hair.

"Don't worry" he murmured against her ear, "this is a good sign."

"If it is a good sign, then why the fuck are you not trembling like me?" she asked. He chuckled and the rich, low sound vibrated in his chest. Darcy could feel it against her. She closed her eyes.

"It will come. Only later."

After a while, the shaking faded away and she was left too tired to move. Loki was soft and warmer than usual. She hid her face in his chest and he rested his chin on top of her head. By then, she was embracing him.

"Thank you" Darcy whispered. She raised her eyes to find his completely focused on her, with an undecipherable expression. Affection, maybe. And maybe something more. Following an instinct older than her, Darcy closed her eyes and kissed him on the lips. It was beautiful. It felt right. It was something she had wanted to do for a long time, and she realized she had just been denying to herself and to everyone the truth about their relationship. His lips moved over hers in a slow caress that made her heart race. Then his tongue was exploring her mouth, delicately but not unsure. She sighed and relaxed in his arms, her mind drifting away from her, all images of war gone. No words had been exchanged, but both of them knew that that was the last time they would see each other in a long time. Darcy was staying on earth, and Loki had to go to Asgard. They came from different worlds, and now they had to rebuild them.

At some point, she moved until he was on top of her and then took off his shirt. Her hands moved over his chest and his back, enjoying the smoothness of his skin under her fingers. He groaned in her neck and bit it in response.

"You are a very good kisser, Loki" she whispered in his ear. His hands explored underneath her shirt, his long fingers caressing just under her breasts.

"You are the most beautiful creature I have ever laid my eyes on" he responded, his voice broken. His mouth descended from her neck to her shoulder, but then he stopped and asked if he could take her shirt off. There was no answer from her: she had taken off her shirt and bra, and he was left speechless for a moment, admiring the perfect curves of her body. So feminine, and yet so strong. She had saved his life more than once. Some of the scars that marked her body he could remember, and others he could not. They had shared years and years of missions together, and still, he did not know half of what he wanted to know about her. But then, Darcy distracted him by wrapping her legs around him and making his erection press against her body.

"Please", she begged. "Make love to me."

She wasn't ashamed of the words. Both knew that they were not only having sex. The feeling was completely different. She was giving herself to him, and he was doing the same to her.

"I have never been able to say no to you."

She laughed when he vanished her pants and underwear, and his own in the process.

"Magic is so wonderful", her blue eyes were sparkling with joy, and he laughed at her phrase. She was perfect. There could be no other being in the entire Universe like her. Darcy understood him in ways that nobody would ever even try to know.

They moved against each other with a slow, sensual pace, and he moaned in pleasure. Not able to resist her anymore, Loki entered her in one soft stroke. The pleasure flooded them both and Darcy gasped and closed her eyes. Loki bit her lip and she kissed him deeply, making him forget everything around them. Even the fact that they had never moved to the bed.

She grabbed his hair and moved her hips, and the pace started to increase gradually, becoming fast and urgent. The sensations became too much, no words except each other's names on their lips.

Darcy reached her climax first, with her body arched and pressed against his, her eyes fixated on Loki's. Then, he followed. A long, all-consuming wave of pleasure made his body shudder.

One hour later, they were still naked and entangled with each other. Loki tugged on one of her locks.

"What happened with Thanos?" Asked Darcy. Loki was tempted to distract her with his hands but stopped himself. Some things needed to be spoken.

"I never got to kill him. Odin got there first." He said thoughtfully.

"Odin?" Darcy was baffled.

"Yes. I...I got to see it, but he would not let me help him." Then, the truth spilled from his lips, unstoppable like a storm. "Odin told Thanos that he would never have me again. That I was his son, and that he had done enough damage. I...tried to pass his magic barrier, but he did not let me. Neither could Thor, Odin wanted us out of that fight. Thanos smiled... and said that I once had yielded my will and that he would do it all again. He told Odin that I was a delicious...toy. Those were his exact words. And while he was talking and saying all these terrible and true things about me, Odin trapped him in his magic and slowly choked him to death. Thanos never really understood Asgardian magic, to him only the Infinity Stones were weapons, so he had no real defense against my father, not with the stones powering his army and far from his reach. All of Thanos soldiers then tried to attack Odin, but we managed, Thor, me and the Einherjar. None of them could touch him. After that, magic depleted and weak, Odin went to the palace to try and rescue the servants trapped under the debris. He never came out, but we thought...we thought that maybe he had stayed in there, helping the wounded."

Against herself, Darcy felt a sense of loss for the death of the king of Asgard. He had a terrible death, betrayed by a Vanir woman. Frigga had been Vanir, and it was probably why the woman could kill him so easily. At the end, his own compassion had been the cause of his redemption and his death. And somehow she had avenged him. She had never believed in Fate, but sometimes she wondered if there was an entity that mocked them in their lives. She, who had never felt sympathy for Odin, had avenged his death. Loki, who had always sought revenge against Thanos, could not have it. His adoptive father had taken the matter into his own hands. The father Loki never thought would give a damn about him.

"He wasn't all that bad then," she said, and Loki laughed against her and buried his face in her neck.

"No. He was not." He admitted with a low voice.

Midday was approaching and with it, their inevitable goodbye.

Reluctantly, Darcy sat on the couch and showered one more time. When she came out Loki was already dressed and waiting for her.

"We will see each other again." He stated with his usual confidence. Darcy did not feel so sure.

"When we...when this is all sorted out." She said.

"Yes. When this is sorted out and we regain some sense of normalcy in our lives, I will find you."

She felt her heart break. His time would never be the same as hers. Perhaps she would die before seeing him one more time. He had all the time in the world, and she, not so much.

"Yes." Tears were pricking her eyes again.

Loki smiled.

"I haven't seen you like this since that episode with your hair. I am glad that I matter that much." He joked with a light tone.

"You matter a lot more than this stupid hair." She affirmed with a teary laugh. The tears never left her eyes. " I would chop it off entirely if it meant I got to see you every day."

He kissed her with force then, with passion, and she could feel his pain for leaving her, for the war, for the destruction, for the loss of his father, for his mistakes. When they stopped, his eyes were suspiciously brilliant.

"I have enchanted your bag to take you to New York."

"Thank you, Loki." She said. "Now, go."

Moments after, he disappeared. The usual smell of leather and magic was gone with him.

"We will always have Malargüe", whispered Darcy to the landscape. Perhaps it was not as good as Paris, and maybe she wasn't as beautiful as Ingrid Bergman, but she would not forget those moments.

With a deep, tired sigh, Darcy grabbed her last weapons and clothing, touched her bag and disappeared, leaving the trailer opened, Jane's equipment under the sun and the desert alone.

* * *

Stark Tower was a complete chaos, but Darcy knew where to find the Avengers. The elevator took her to the top of the Tower, and when the doors opened she found them. However, her blood froze when she saw the scene in front of her eyes. Tony Stark laid in the middle of the room, surrounded by the rest of the team. His eyes were closed and he was still in his Iron Man suit. In the center of his body, the armor was broken and burnt. He seemed asleep, but Darcy knew better. Everyone stared at her when a gasp left her lips.

"There was nothing we could do. It was instantaneous." Steve said, and he was crying. He and Tony had recently moved past her differences.

Darcy kneeled at Tony's side and prayed, for the last time in her life, that Iron Man, her fictional father and dear friend, could rest in peace. She knew he had never found real peace while alive, and she could only hope he would if there was life after death. Her chest hurt almost physically, but her eyes were dry of tears.

When a scream pierced her ears, Darcy turned around to see Pepper. She looked older, mostly because her relationship with Tony had ended years ago and Darcy had never seen her again after that. However, everyone knew that they still loved each other. It was just too complicate for them to be together, but after Pepper left, Tony never even flirted with another woman.

The room emptied slowly, leaving Pepper crying with Tony. Hours later the woman appeared in the common room of the Avengers, her eyes red and puffy and her voice a little broken, but in business mode. She informed them that Tony had left half his fortune to the Avengers. Pepper had inherited Stark Industries.

"And here," said the red-haired woman with a sad smile, "It says that 'Miss Darcy Lewis, my fictional daughter, and funniest friend by far, will have the right to ten percent of Stark Industries economical gains.' The rest will go to charities and science promoting institutes. He wants a scholarship for young people with interest in technology. Wanted." Finished Pepper, correcting herself.

Darcy gaped. Suddenly, she was rich. Growing up with the right amount of money to survive the month, and sometimes not even that, had made her value money. However, she found herself desiring fiercely to be living off the minimum wage if Tony could come back to life.

Nick Fury was also dead, and Darcy sensed that he had been hard to kill. Only later she found out that he was killed by one of Thanos minions, Nebula, and that killing him had cost her life as well.

With Fury gone, the head of SHIELD was Coulson. After he gave her new orders, Darcy walked home.

Or what was left of it.

Her house, that she loved so much, was burned to the ground. There was nothing for her in there. Not even her parents' picture could be saved. Not even her plants or her books. Her best clothing was gone. There were even some books of Loki that were completely torn apart. She walked amongst the ruins for a while, trying to find something to carry with her, something that made her feel like she had belonged in that place. But there were only ashes.

When she dropped the news to Coulson, she expected some cold order. Instead, he flew by minutes later and stood there with her, staring at what once had been her house.

"I have a place where you can live." He said.

"I will not live in the Tower."

"No. But you are not the only agent without a house right now. You will have to share it with three other people, but it is going to be a place to sleep."

"Okay."

Hours later, she realized she still had the necklace he had given her.

* * *

She ended up living in an airplane. The Bus, they called it.

The first two months passed in a blurry. Every day they were given food, blankets, candles and water and they carried it to the places with the most destruction, houses that were being rebuilt, places where people could not access to the basic services. SHIELD had temporarily abandoned all other missions in favor of aiding the ones affected by the war. And there were millions of them. With all that action Darcy stopped seeing the Avengers and became a workaholic. She slept barely two hours per night and woke up from terrible nightmares. She usually lost her voice in the next few hours, and sometimes she shook again like she was made of jelly.

A year went by, and Darcy did not contact anyone from Asgard. She just couldn't. Thor hadn't come back to Earth, and she understood. He was the king of Asgard now, not an Avenger. And while Darcy knew first hand he would rather be an Avenger, she also knew he was not going to avoid his royal duties when his people needed him more than ever. She trusted Loki was behaving as well.

Another year quickly passed and one fateful Darcy was carried into the Bus with burning fever and convulsing. They gave her sedatives and after she slept a few hours, Coulson dropped by.

"I do not want to see you", she stated. Her body ached all over, but at least she was warmer than hours ago and not fucking freezing. Or being epileptic.

"Oh, that is to be expected from you. Agent May says you are exerting yourself. Have been for a long time."

Darcy raised her eyebrows.

"Me? Exerting myself? Look, Coulson, there are people dying out there, without homes, people who have lost family, and I am here, wrapped in blankets and drugged and completely healthy. I want to go back outside. You need my help."

The director of SHIELD composed his signature smirk, and Darcy wanted to tear his eyes out.

"You are not going back to work. Not now. Things have gotten much better out there. The world is pretty united now, but I doubt you've seen any of that since you don't watch or read or listen to the news."

"People are dying, Coulson."

"Yes. And we have a lot of healthy people to help them. You need to recover before you die."

Darcy laughed loudly.

"I am not dying! It was just a fever."

"And seizures."

"Sei...no! I always tremble. It's normal. I am a trembling person. Call me Jelly-woman or whatever. Just..let me go back out there."

Coulson sighed tiredly. He had known many people like her over the years, and the only way to make them process their own grief was to force them to be somewhere they could not escape their thoughts.

"Here's is the thing. The war lasted what, five years?" Darcy nodded. "And in those years you never really stopped working. And now, two years later, you are still working. Some people would call you heroic, but I call you stupid. You are stupid for not resting. Everyone needs to rest-

"There are people outside that can't rest because their homes are destroyed-

"I know. And we are going to help them. People donate every day, and there's not a single family completely alone. Now, you are going to rest. And I don't mind forcing you to do it. You are going to Hawaii and until I see you are completely recovered, you are not going to come back to work."

Darcy tried to protest, but Coulson's look was serious.

"Why Hawaii?" She finally asked.

"Because it is a magical place." Coulson winked and left the room.

* * *

The island was a property of SHIELD and the only human contact she had was the guy that brought her food and water every day and was probably scared out of his mind when he saw her furious eyes staring at him.

She spent two weeks inside her cabin, not even trying to go did not want to feel the sun, did not want to swim and certainly did not want to explore the island. Instead, she found security cameras in the front door and yelled at them innumerable threats. Nobody answered and she ended up breaking them with a rolling pin. Pathetic.

On the third week, she conquered her fears and walked to the beach. She sat there the entire afternoon, watching crabs get into and out of the water.

The sun started to sink into the sea in a fiery glory, and Darcy found out that sunsets hadn't changed. They were still beautiful.

She stayed there until the sky was covered in stars, and when she recognized some constellations, the tears just did not stop.

If she had just fought better. If she had saved more people. If she could have been there for all the broken families. All the if's she had been avoiding ran down on her. She wept for Tony, with his brown, brilliant eyes, and his sad soul. The soul of a genius. She missed his pretentious mustache. His laughter. She missed her parents. She missed her beautiful house in New York. She missed seeing Jane, and the twins, and Thor. She missed laughing with Loki and exchanging books. She felt guilty for being tired. For having had a breakdown. For not having killed Thanos herself. For hating Hawaii and loving it at the same time. For trembling every night. She cried until her eyes were red and she was thirsty, with her mouth tasting the salt of her tears.

That night, she went back to the cabin and slept deeply until the afternoon of the next day. She ate something and fell back asleep, waking up the following morning.

She actually felt better when she rose up from the bed that second day. Something had lifted from her chest. She was really hungry, for the first time in years.

When the man with food ringed the doorbell she smiled at him. It was weird, because it was a real smile, and she'd only had fake or compassionate ones to give all that time.

Of course, the man seemed even more scared than before. Maybe she was smiling like Terminator when he was learning to be more human with Connor. Maybe her smile had become just a row of teeth with no expression at all. She hoped not.

After eating lunch Darcy put on her bikini and went for a swim in the sea. Not that she was a great swimmer, but at least her body would have something to do.

However, on her way out she stopped by a mirror and examined herself.

Her body was exceptionally skinny. She had barely eaten the necessary to survive the past twenty-four months, and it showed. There were scars on her belly, her arms and her legs. Most of them had been on missions, but there was one above her knee that her mother had cured when she fell out a bike. The scar on her arm reminded her of Loki. His beautiful hair, chaotic when not combed back with gel, and his smile, scarcely given. His sense of humor and his broken and later repaired soul. Darcy wondered if he still went to Eir after the final battle. She never knew if Eir survived, but she had the hope that the woman was still around, healing people. If that was the case, maybe Loki still talked to her. Maybe even Thor and Jane had started treatment.

The short walk to the beach was thoroughly enjoyed by Darcy. The sea was shining under the sun, the birds were singing and some monkeys were staring at her from the top of the palm trees. She suddenly ran, jumped into the water and scared the fish that were peacefully swimming.

She spent the rest of the day there, and it felt good.

When the stars shone above her, she came out of the water.

She was drying her hair when she smelled it.

Magic.

Slowly, thinking that perhaps she had gone mad, Darcy turned around.

But Loki was actually standing a few meters away from her.

His hair was shorter. He had a sort of boyish look that Darcy did not buy for a second. His white tunic made him look hippie-ish, especially with the black pants and the bare feet. Darcy did not buy that either, though it was funny. His eyes glinted in the night, and she felt her breath hitch at the sight of him. How different he seemed from the first Loki she had seen, and even from the last. Different, but definitely Loki. Mischievous, cunning, broken but whole. Unique.

"I changed my mind about Ginny Weasley." His voice was thick with emotion.

"Oh. You did?" Darcy was rooted to her spot, unable to do anything but stare at him.

"Yes. She is perfect for Harry Potter, and after the war, the best they could do was to start a relationship."

"Really?" Apparently, her brain could not manage more than a few words at the time.

"No", he laughed. "But Harry will never find a better girl for himself than Ginny. She rescued him from his own mind."

There was a moment of silence on the beach when the God of Lies fell to the ground, impacted by Darcy's tackle.

That night, embraced tightly by Loki's body, feeling his breathing and the beating of his heart surrounding her, Darcy found peace.

* * *

The golden apple of Iddun's garden would come a year later, after the wedding. And then, eternity.

THE END


End file.
